A man who met a 13-year-old girl on Facebook has been charged with kidnapping her from a school in Black Jack.

St. Louis County prosecutors on Sunday charged Shaquan E. Smith, 21, with child kidnapping.

The girl, identified in court papers as S.J., had vanished from her school on Thursday. Police at first thought she was a runaway.

With the help of school officials, police determined that she had left the school with Smith. Police issued a missing and endangered person advisory on Saturday. Smith and the girl were found Saturday night.

Ed Magee, a spokesman for the prosecutor's office, said Smith had met the girl on Facebook.

St. Louis County Police Officer Benjamin Granda said Smith had gone to the girl's school on Thursday, trying to sign her out from the main office. He posed as the girl's uncle. Granda said the school wouldn't allow him to sign her out.

Smith and the girl were later seen running from the school. Police in their advisory identified the school as Jamestown Elementary School, at 13450 Old Jamestown Road.

However, the criminal complaint filed in St. Louis County says the school was Hazelwood Central Middle School, about a half-mile away at 13750 Old Jamestown Road.

Smith had been wanted for a felony probation violation related to charges for burglaries and theft of a firearm, police say.

Granda said investigators don't know how Smith and the girl spent the three days. Granda said they are trying to determine if she was the victim of any other crimes.

Smith lives in the 5200 block of Genevieve Avenue in St. Louis' Walnut Park East neighborhood.

The Hazelwood School District referred questions to its spokeswoman Kimberly McKenzie, who could not immediately be reached for comment Monday.

Kim Bell • 314-340-8115

@kbellpd on Twitter

kbell@post-dispatch.com

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