N.J. teen allegedly sent hoax danger tweet

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CLARK, N.J., Oct. 3 (UPI) -- A teen who tweeted an intruder was in her home was taken to a hospital for evaluation after police found her at a New Jersey Turnpike rest area, police said.

Investigators said Kara Alongi, 16, was never in danger and the tweet was a hoax, The (Newark, N.J.) Star-Ledger reported Wednesday.

Clark, N.J., Police Chief Alan Scherb said after Alongi posted the message on her Twitter account about an intruder in her home Sunday evening, a taxi driver answering a call to the address said he picked her up and drove her to the Rahway Rail Station.

State police found her about 4:30 p.m. Tuesday and notified her family, who met her at the hospital Tuesday evening. Alongi was then transferred to a hospital closer to her home and the family returned home early Wednesday, the newspaper said.

Police said they would speak to Alongi to try to determine why she left home and how she was able to travel as far as she did during the 46 hours she was missing.

"Other than the cab to the train station, I don't know where she went or how she got there," Clark Mayor Sal Bonaccorso said.

At the Rahway station, Alongi bought a train ticket for New York, the newspaper said.

Alongi's Twitter message drew responses from hundreds of thousands of Twitter users and prompted an estimated 6,000 calls to police, The Star-Ledger said.