A missing teenage girl showed up outside a TV station to tell her story. Now her father has been arrested

The father of a California teenager has been charged with stealing and hiding her after she turned up outside a local news station one week after going missing.

Alison Chao, 15, disappeared back on 16 July after she left her home in Monterey Park on her bike to visit a relative in San Gabriel.

When the teenager failed to show up at her relative’s home, she was reported missing by her father, prompting a major search to try to find her.

Surveillance footage captured Chao cycling away from home wearing a purple t-shirt and long shorts.

One week later, on 23 July, Chao was spotted outside the gates of local ABC television station KABC’s offices in Glendale.

A woman from Glendale told The Los Angeles Times that she had noticed a girl who resembled the missing teenager slip past a security guard and say that she wanted to tell the news station her side of the story. The 15-year-old was in the same clothes that she had been wearing when she went missing.

Now, days on from her mysterious reappearance, Chao’s father has been arrested on a string of charges in connection to the incident.

On Friday 26 July, Jeffrey Chao, 40, was charged with stealing and concealing his daughter as well as falsely filing an emergency report.

He pleaded not guilty plea to the charges and his bail was set at $500,000.

He was also asked to surrender his firearms while his wife and daughter were placed under protective orders.

If convicted, he faces up to five years in prison.

Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascón said that “falsely reporting a child as missing not only violates the law but also diverts critical law enforcement resources away from other serious matters”.

He vowed that “this type of behavior will not be tolerated.”

The teen’s parents, Jeffrey and Annie Chao, are in the process of obtaining a divorce, according to Newsweek .

Alison was awarded full custody of their daughter on July 16.

Jeffrey’s sister Jenny Chao has set up a GoFundMe page to raise money to cover the family’s legal costs and “ensure their rights and well-being are fully protected during this difficult time.”

“We deeply appreciate you for standing by us and for your unwavering support. We will continue to fight for justice for Alison and Jeffery!” she wrote in an update.