Runaway teen found safe

BY STEVE McCONNELL, Times-Shamrock Writer

CLIFFORD TWP. – This small community inSusquehannaCountyrejoiced Wednesday afternoon when one of their own, a 14-year-old boy who ran away from home last week, was found.

Jacob Richard Wallace was spotted walking along a rural state road by a friend of the family, five days after he went missing.

“He’s back. He’s home. He’s safe. Thank God,” said his sister, Stephanie Wallace, by phone. “We were never so scared in our lives. We did not want to sleep for days.”

After leaving home Friday night, Jacob hid at a golf course he worked at in Lenoxville, staying inside a garage there, Wallace said.

His disappearance had the community and state police scouring the area, and even the Rock Creek golf course, every day he was gone. Flyers were posted all over town.

Wallace said Jacob, an eighth-grader in theMountain ViewSchool District, was the victim of bullying at school. District Superintendent Andrew Chichura could not be reached for comment Wednesday night.

Jacob was interviewed at the state police barracks in Gibson on Wednesday afternoon. Troopers were not available for comment to confirm whether Jacob was bullied.

Wallace said Jacob even saw them looking for him at the golf course, but he hid because he was afraid he would get in trouble for running away.

When he was spotted walking on Route 374 on Wednesday afternoon, Jacob was heading home, only briefly, to drop off a few letters to his family so they wouldn’t worry about him.

The letters said they could write him a note and drop it off at the golf course garage, Wallace said. On Wednesday, relatives and friends gathered at the family’s Clifford home to celebrate Jacob’s return.

“It was the community that came together,” Wallace said. “They made it all happen.”