City of Houston investigates day care van driver following Amber Alert

HOUSTON (KTRK) -- The City of Houston has begun an investigation into the transportation company at the heat of Wednesday's Amber Alert.

JTD Transportation was emblazoned on the side of the van driven by Latonya Jackson. Jackson stopped at a Jack in the Box on W. Belfort, and went inside the restaurant with her own son. Within moments, police say 24-year-old Brenton Simmons jumped into the van and sped off with the kids inside.

"It was just devastating to me because I would never think something like that would happen," said Jackson, who would only speak to Eyewitness News today through her apartment door.

Jackson and worried parents waited for several hours before the van was found. The children were shaken up, but unharmed. Simmons is now facing five charges of kidnapping, but parents are instead focusing their attention on Jackson, the owner of JTD Transportation.

"If you were that lazy to leave the kids with AC on and door unlocked, you weren't thinking of their well being. You don't have any business driving a van, period," fumed Sonya Mims, whose three year old daughter Paris was the youngest child in the van.

Like most parents, Mims found JTD Transportation from colorful brochures left at her child's school. She pays the company $25 a week to driver her daughter from Pre-K classes to her home. However, our investigation found that to transport kids in a vehicle that holds fewer than 16 children, the business needs to register with the City of Houston. Of the more than 100 such registrations with the city, JTD Transportation is not one of them.

We obtained a flyer that was distributed to parents. Once we showed the flyer to the City of Houston, the city immediately said something is wrong.

"Based off the flyer which specifically says they transport children to and from schools, it certainly sounds like they should be registered, " said Lara Cottingham, a spokesperson for the city's Department of Administrative and Regulatory Affairs. "We're actually starting an investigation today, into this matter."

There are other troubling details about Jackson. Court Records show Jackson has several previous convictions for theft, among other incidents on her criminal record. Her last brush with the law was apparently in 2012, according to court records. However, in this case, the Harris County District Attorney's office so far has declined to press charges. In fact, Simmons is the only person facing charges in this case.

This has left Mims and her family fuming. "These are children involved these are young kids getting transported to and from school every day," said Mims, who added she thinks Jackson should face charges.

Meanwhile, Jackson says she promises never to leave kids in a van unattended again. "Don't do it, do not do it, if you got kids lives in your hands like this, it's valuable, it's a hurting feeling."