LIVE OAK, Fla. — A nationwide Amber Alert was issued Thursday for two children reported missing in Live Oak that afternoon.

It turns out the two children were never in North Florida at all.

Their 24-year-old mother Rosangel Sikiu Sanchez, of Houston, Texas, has been charged with making a false report, knowingly giving false info to LEO about an alleged crime.

Sanchez was a fraud suspect after attempting to pass a bad check at the J&K Food Mart convenience store at 969 Ohio Ave. N in Live Oak at the intersection with Winderweedle St. around 3:30 p.m. Thursday.

The owner of the convenience store flagged down Live Oak Police Officer Tim Parisi, who then detained the suspect and discovered additional checks similar to the one that was attempted to be cashed at the store, according to an LOPD release.

The release states the store owner told police that a Hispanic man that accompanied the woman had fled the scene, jumped into a vehicle and left in an unknown direction.

The suspect told authorities she agreed Sept. 25, to cash some bad checks for some men in Houston in exchange for $150, according to an LOPD report.

The report states the woman claimed she left Houston with her two children — 7-year-old Brian Mejias and 6-year-old Gabriela Mejias — on Sept. 26 to come to Madison and then Live Oak with four men.

Once they arrived in Live Oak on Thursday, the woman said they met two other vehicles and nine more men and discussed the plan to pass counterfeit payroll checks and local stores, the report states.

She told authorities that when she attempted to cash the check at the J&K store, the men who were with her fled the area in the car that contained her children, the report states.

She also said the men had allegedly threatened her children if she cooperated with law enforcement, according to the report.

An Amber Alert was issued and the children were entered into the national database for missing or exploited children.

On Friday morning at approximately 8:30 a.m., the suspect told authorities that her mother had told her the children were home and had been sent to school, the report states.

The Houston Police Department responded to Magnum Elementary School for a welfare check on the children around 9 a.m. and advised that the children’s welfare was good, further adding the children had been at school the previous three days as well, according to the report.

“It’s a shame that so many resources were used on a false accusation,” Live Oak Police Chief Buddy Williams said. “In my opinion a missing child is a top priority thing for us as law enforcement. It’s one of those things we worry about them and they’re not even our children.

“Then come to find out we were lied to. At least the kids are safe and it’s a shame that she, as a mother, would try to use that as a diversion to take the heat off of herself.”

During a follow-up interview, the suspect admitted to lying about her children being present during the incident at the convenience store or being taken.

Sanchez also faces fraud and passing forged checks charges.