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Teen Being Rescued by Holland Tunnel Trio Known to Wilkes-Barre Police

WILKES-BARRE — Three people from Pennsylvania arrested outside the Holland Tunnel Tuesday morning for having an arsenal of guns in their SUV were arraigne...
jenea patterson

WILKES-BARRE -- Three people from Pennsylvania arrested outside the Holland Tunnel Tuesday morning for having an arsenal of guns in their SUV were arraigned Wednesday afternoon on weapons charges.

They are John Cramsey, 50; Dean Smith, 53, both of Zionsville; and Kimberly Arendt, 29, of Lehighton.

All three were arraigned by video in New Jersey. They allegedly drove from Pennsylvania to try to rescue a 16-year-old Wilkes-Barre girl from a so-called heroin den in New York City when they were stopped at the Holland Tunnel.

Cramsey appears to be involved with an online group focused on fighting heroin after his daughter died from it in February.

Jenea Patterson lives on Eastview Drive in Wilkes-Barre and she's familiar to police there.

You may remember that last year her mother told authorities that Patterson was abducted at gunpoint in front of her own home, but the teenage girl would not cooperate with law enforcement.

Patterson was at a preliminary hearing for her accused kidnapper Walter Lewis in October. Prosecutors in Luzerne County withdrew the kidnapping charge after they say Patterson refused to cooperate.

Walking into the hearing, Patterson even claimed she went with Lewis willingly.

Now Patterson is back in the headlines. Her name shows up in a Facebook post from one of the three people who was arrested at the Holland Tunnel outside New York city.

The Facebook group "Enough is Enough," is for people who know someone who died from or who survived a drug addiction. It's run John Cramsey.

In the post, he explains the purpose of the trip to New York is to, "extract a 16-year-old girl who went up there to party with a few friends. This young lady from Wilkes-Barre is scared and wants to come home.

"Last night she woke to find her friend's body next to her in the same bed where her friend died of another heroin overdose."

Newswatch 16 went to Patterson's house in Wilkes-Barre. Her mother wouldn't come to the door but said Patterson was home.

But when we called James Patterson, her father, he said he was headed to New York to pick her up.

Now, the Luzerne County district attorney is reminding people not to take the law into their own hands.

"In situations where you think someone's life may be in danger, someone could be hurt or seriously injured, it's important to reach out to law enforcement. They're trained to handle these situations," said Luzerne County District Attorney Stefanie Salavantis.

The D.A. says the reason for that is to prevent innocent people from getting hurt.

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