Mother Pleads Guilty to Charge

An area mother who set off an Amber Alert in October pled guilty to interference with custody in Muskingum County Common Pleas Court Monday.

48-year-old Murita Newman appeared before Judge Kelly Cottrill. Authorities say Newman took her 7-year-old son Jarrell from his grandparents home on McIntire Avenue October 4th.

Zanesville Police say Newman fled to Wheeling, West Virginia with the boy were she was encountered by police at a convenience store and claimed she was lost. When officers were helping her they discovered an Amber Alert. Judge Cottrill ordered a pre-sentence investigation. Newman remains in the Muskingum County Jail.