Girl uses Morse code to seek help

She alerted police to her brother who was allegedly holding teen at knifepoint.

When police didn’t get an answer late last month at a Pocono Summit home where they had been told a pregnant teen was being held against her will, they saw a flashing light at the rear of the home and quickly identified it as a Morse code signal for help.

Pocono Mountain Regional police went to the source of the flashing “S-O-S” signal, finding a girl who told them her older brother, Richie Ortiz Jr, 20, was holding the 19-year-old at knifepoint and was threatening to kill her and her unborn child, police said. The girl also told police that her brother was refusing to allow police inside, police said.

Police were initially dispatched to conduct a welfare check at 11:23 p.m. Dec. 30 to a home in the 5200 block of Holiday Drive, after they got called by a woman in New Jersey who said her friend texted her that she was being held against her will inside. .

When police arrived, Ortiz refused to answer the door and he began turning off the lights inside the home, police said. After police spoke to Ortiz’s younger sister, they established a perimeter around the home.

Police began getting people out of the home and were able to find the pregnant teen and get her safely away.

Police found Ortiz hiding in the attic. Police did not give the relationship of Ortiz and the victim.

Ortiz was charged with terroristic threats, unlawful restraint, simple assault and harassment. He was arraigned by District Judge Kristina Anzini and was sent to Monroe County Correctional Facility under $100,000 bail.

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