Police: 3 Newark Teens Escape From Detention Facility, Carjack Van

RINGWOOD, N.J. (CBSNewYork/AP) -- Police searched Monday for three teenage boys who they say escaped from a New Jersey detention center over the weekend after attacking an employee, stealing his keys and carjacking his van with a sleeping woman inside.

The boys -- a 15-year-old and two 17-year-olds, all from Newark -- fled from the minimum-security Green Residential Community Home on Sunday. All three were being held there on probation violations, Ringwood police told The Record.

The teens attacked a 71-year-old employee, identified as Richard Smith, in the laundry room.

Smith "was forced to the ground by three juveniles, and they removed his car keys and stole his Toyota Sienna van," police Chief Joseph Walker told 1010 WINS.

The teens then drove off in Smith's van, unaware that the employee's friend, a 29-year-old woman, was sleeping in the backseat.

Police were able to track the teens' movements using the woman's cellphone, Walker said.

"We began to ping the female's cellphone, and they went up the New York State Thruway, to Airmont Road and eventually made their way back into Newark," Walker said.

The woman and the van were found in Newark early Monday. The employee and the woman were not injured in the incident.

"The three juveniles are still at large somewhere in Newark," the Ringwood Police Department wrote on its Facebook page. "There is no danger to the community at this time."

Additional information about the teens was not released.

The state Department of Justice is handling the investigation into the escape.

The community home from which the teens fled is on the grounds of Ringwood State Park. It houses up to 32 male offenders between 13 and 16 years old.

Authorities said the residential facility is for teens who commit lower-level offenses or are nearing the time when they will be released from custody. They say it is not a jail-type facility.

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