Pictured is Sierra L. Tannler, who walked away from a work release program in Warren on Jan. 20. She has not contacted her relatives and remains missing.

The parents of a Warren woman who left her work release program early and has now been missing for a week are pleading for her to return.

Sierra L. Tannler, 30, has not made recent contact with relatives and now faces far more serious escape charges after failing to return to the Warren County Jail.

The ordeal, Amy and Ron Wachter said in an interview this week, is the latest in a series of escalating problems with their daughter in the last few years likely brought on by drug addiction and untreated mental health problems.

“I don’t understand what made her think it was a good idea to do this,” Amy Wachter said.

In a news release this week, the Warren County Sheriff’s Office said it was looking for Tannler after she left her place of employment at a restaurant on Friday, Jan. 20, that is part of a work release program.

Amy Wachter said her daughter was allowed to leave work early that day. But because the restaurant did not notify the jail — where she was supposed to return — she had a “four-hour head start” to wherever she went, her mother said.

Tannler was last seen late that Friday morning walking east on Pennsylvania Avenue and later near Jackson Avenue and Irvindale Road. She is described as being 5-feet, 5-inches tall, about 120 pounds, and has brown hair and hazel eyes.

Based on a tip, officials with the Sheriff’s Office told the Wachters they believe Tannler may have gone to New York state, possibly Jamestown, despite not knowing anyone in the area and not having a vehicle or her wallet.

Anyone with information on her whereabouts is asked to contact the Sheriff’s Office at (814) 723-7553.