The family of an Escondido woman mistakenly identified by Carlsbad police as the suspect in a child molestation case says it wants to move forward.
They said the want to put the focus back on the original intent of the news release--to find out if there are other potential victims.
In July, 2016, 22-year-old Brittany Lyon was arrested and accused of lewd acts on children while babysitting.
Police said Lyon took the children to her boyfriend's house in Carlsbad where he allegedly molested the children, while she took video of the acts.
Trying to find out if there are more potential victims, detectives put out a news release asking if other families hired Lyon as a babysitter.
According to police, families may not have even realized they hired Lyon because she posted ads on babysitting websites using the alias Lauren Allen.
But the problem with the news release arose when police realized Lauren Allen is an actual person from Escondido who used to babysit. The photo used in the news release was a picture of the real Lauren Allen, who happens to look a lot like Lyon.
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“The releasing of the photo of Lauren Allen was a mistake by our department…I can’t express it, other than (it was) a lack of vetting on our part, which ultimately rests with me," said Carlsbad Police Captain Mickey Williams. "I should have caught this. I didn’t and we should not have released Lauren Allen’s name, period, or her photograph.”
Police said they did meet with Allen and her family Friday morning and had apologized.
“[Lyon] may have impersonated other people while committing her offenses and possibly, she may have used Lauren Allen’s name, but Lauren Allen is in no way suspected of wrongdoing," Williams said.
