Others fooled by woman who posed as boy to lure teen girl

SPRINGBORO — Police determined that 14-year-old Matthew Abrams actually was 31-year-old Patricia Dye after finding the Springboro girl she is alleged to have lured into a sexual relationship on June 24 on the streets of Franklin, malnourished with sores on her feet.

Dye’s true gender also surprised the woman charged with keeping track of the 16-year-old girl while the teen’s mother was undergoing gall bladder surgery at Sycamore Hospital in Dayton.

“It’s very, very disturbing. She had me fooled. I thought I was dealing with a 14-year-old boy,” said Melissa Neumann of Middletown.

On Wednesday, July 7, Dye remained in the Warren County Jail on $100,000 bond, awaiting consideration of her case by a grand jury. She is charged with contributing to the delinquency of and unlawful sex with a minor.

The girl ran away from home June 22 — her 16th birthday — according to police reports.

Neumann, a friend of the victim’s mother, said she urged the girl to come home in text messages.

When the girl was picked up by police, she said she had not eaten in three days and had sores on her feet, Neumann said.

After she left home, the girl and Dye were “in and out” of a room at Collie’s Motel on North Main Street in Franklin that Dye shared with her parents, Sgt. Bob Marchiny of the Springboro Police Department said.

Authorities turned the girl over to her aunt after she was examined at Children’s Medical Center of Dayton, the aunt said.

The girl has since been reunited with her mother, family members said.

The aunt said she changed the girl’s pass codes to Myspace, Facebook and an alumni page for Franklin High School graduates to protect her from Dye, who was portraying herself online as Abrams and with other identities.

The aunt said police showed her about five pictures, some portraying Dye as a man, others as a woman.

“I had no clue,” said the aunt, who is not being identified to protect the girl’s identity. “I hope to God that she never gets out.”

Dye, who was arrested June 30 in Franklin, had no local criminal record.

No other charges have been filed in the case, but police said they were investigating whether there were other victims.

Contact this reporter at (937) 225-2261 or lbudd@DaytonDailyNews.com.

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