LA authorities blamed for missing woman

LOS ANGELES, Sept. 25 (UPI) -- An attorney for the family of Mitricce Richardson says the Los Angeles Sheriff's Department is responsible for the 24-year-old's disappearance.

Attorney Leo James Terrell said Richardson, a Los Angeles resident, was last seen leaving the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Malibu/Lost Hills substation Sept. 17 after being released following her arrest, The Orange County Register reported Thursday.

"If I have to file a lawsuit to get this lady found, I will do that," Terrell said.

Richardson's mother, Latice Sutton, said her daughter was released from the substation in the early morning without a car, phone or money.

"We want our daughter home. We want her safe and found," Sutton said at a news conference Thursday. "We want her with us."

The sheriff's department said Richardson was arrested on suspicion of being in possession of less than one ounce of marijuana and failing to pay for dinner at a local eatery.

Los Angeles sheriff's spokesman Steve Whitmore insists authorities are intent on locating the missing woman, the Register reported.

"The only thing that the Los Angeles Sheriff's Department wants to do is find her and return her to the ones who love her," Whitmore said.