Missing teen's guardian faces charges

YOUNGSTOWN -- A 39-year-old guardian of a missing 16-year-old boy faces 28 counts of child endangering and police are seeking to charge his live-in girlfriend with the same.
The guardians told Mahoning County deputy sheriffs the teen has been missing since Jan. 3. Family members and friends say he has been missing for months and fear he may be the victim of foul play.
He has not been in school this year and a Chaney High School administrator believed he was a home school student.
David Sharpe, of Manchester Avenue on the city's West Side, was arraigned in county juvenile court Thursday. Police have issued a warrant for the arrest of the woman, Jennifer Snyder, 29. She told police the teen ran away Jan. 3. The couple is charged with endangering for failing to report the teen was missing until 28 days after he allegedly ran away.
Deputies were alerted to the teen's disappearance by Snyder's step-father.
The teen's mother lives in Japan. His father, of Youngstown, has health problems.
Snyder is the sister of the father's second ex-wife, also of this area.
Family and friends told police that the couple had prevented them from seeing or talking to the teen for months and suspect problems with the guardians.
The teen had been taking medication for mental health problems but the guardians had stopped giving it to him over a dispute with doctors, Snyder told investigators. Police had tried for several days to contact Snyder before reaching her. Police interviewed her in January and she disappeared before an investigation led to the charges.