Amber Alert Issued for Akelise Johnson, Mother says Child was Never ‘Missing’
The mother of a child who was reported missing is taking to social media to share her story.
Rochester Police issued an Amber Alert for seven-year-old Akelise Johnson, Tuesday evening. He was located later that night.
“The child was safely located around midnight at a residence in the City of Rochester,” said Rochester Police Capt. Greg Bello. “We appreciate all the assistance we received in helping us to locate the child, including from the public, the NY State Police, FBI, and Child Protective Services (CPS). The circumstances of the incident are still under investigation and no charges have been filed at this time.”
But the boy’s mother, Celeta Johnson, says her son was never missing but was with her at home the entire evening.
Johnson posted several videos on her YouTube page highlighting a complex set of circumstances involving RPD, CPS, her attorney, case workers and care managers.
Johnson has four children and has been navigating through the courts and with CPS for several years to get custody of her children.
“I was in a domestic violence relationship and things got out of control,” she said.
but according to an article published by News 8 on RochesterFirst.com, Johnson’s 18-month-old daughter, Azaleyah, was tragically beaten to death in Syracuse in 2014. Kendall Cooper, Johnson’s boyfriend at the time, was accused of the crime and charged with manslaughter, but he was acquitted at trial. Johnson was not charged in connection with the case.
Before the trial, News 8’s sister station in Syracuse, reported in 2015 that Johnson was arrested at the Onondaga County Courthouse for an altercation with Cooper’s family.
Johnson says her youngest child, Akelise, was released to her last month on a child discharge. She says things were going well until an incident on July 27th when she was assaulted.
“Me and my baby took a walk to the store and some guy basically bum-rushed my baby and I kinda checked him about it,” she said. “It got into an argument, and I was really just trying to hurry up and get out the store and that’s when the guy sucker-punched me.”
Johnson said she was struck more than 30 times and suffered a broken nose, a fractured left eye and had to get surgery and stitches and now has a metal plate under her eye.
She says she and the store owner called the police more than five times, but they never showed up.
“I waited almost three hours for the police,” she said.
Johnson says she had to go to the hospital to attend to her injuries. She called a friend who secured a ride for her.
Days after the incident Johnson says she saw the man who assaulted her walking in the neighborhood.
“I called CPS and told them that I did not feel safe, and I wanted to move,” she said. “I sent my case worker pictures of my black eye, and I asked her to help me get a new apartment.”
Johnson says she reached out to several shelters and contacted multiple landlords but had no success.
“CPS didn’t do anything to help me,” she said.
She says she eventually told CPS she had family and friends in Georgia who could assist her until she got on her feet.
“They [CPS] have not helped me,” she said. “I’ve repeatedly reached out to them asking for help and telling them that I do not feel safe where I’m living now.”
Johnson says she had a meeting, Monday, with her case worker and that’s when things began to spiral.
“I told her I really needed to leave by Friday,” she said. “I told her I have family in Georgia who is willing to help me. I have a support system there.”
“The [case] worker took my words out of context and determined that I was gonna be a flight risk, which wasn’t the case,” she said.
Johnson says she was “more than willing to cooperate with CPS.”
“I even told them I was willing to do like a wellness check once I get there to show them that I was doing everything to stay compliant.”
Rene James, a former care manager for a local health agency, says she is not surprised by Johnson’s experience within the system.
“The safety of the child is always of utmost importance, and I understand the challenges CPS personnel has dealing with the nuances of the many cases they have to handle on a daily basis,” James said. “But often, the care managers are young and inexperienced in handling complex situations like Celeta’s.
James, who also worked as a teacher and family developer says the cards are stacked against many of these young mothers.
“It’s important for the case workers to listen to the clients, hear them and not just react to notes written in a file,” she noted. “Additionally, I would be remised to not share that there is often even some inherent bias within the system.”
“I been fighting my whole damn life and I’m tired of it. I don’t wanna fight no more,” Johnson said. “I’m just tired.”
We’ve reached out to RPD, Johnson’s attorney and CPS but as of the publishing of this story we have not heard back.
UPDATE 8/30/24
We spoke with RPD Captain Greg Bello who declined to add any additional comments regarding the Amber Alert.
"We pretty much assisted CPS on this one," he said. "There is really nothing else we can add."
Bello says RPD did respond to the 911 call on July 27th and added that there's an on-going open investigation on the matter.
"She had left by the time we got to the store but we met with her at the hospital and took a report."
"We have a multi-page report on that case," he said.
"We've made progress on it."
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