http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16673691/

LAKEWOOD, Wash. - A 9-year-old boy who didn't like his suburban Tacoma home grabbed a car, got caught, was returned home to his mother, then ran away again and flew to San Antonio with a plane change in Phoenix before he was arrested, authorities said.

Investigators and Southwest Airlines officials were trying to determine how Semaj Booker, who was trying to get to his grandfather in Texas, made his way through security and onto the airplane.

In a statement Wednesday, Southwest Airlines said a young man approached the ticket counter at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport requesting a boarding pass and saying his mother was already in the boarding area

The young man's information matched a paid, ticketless reservation for the flight. Based on the information he gave us, he was issued a boarding pass," the airline said, adding that he was not listed as an "unaccompanied minor" because he told the ticket agent he was 12 years old.

He made it through airport security in Seattle and Phoenix, and hopped two separate flights before gate agents in San Antonio stopped him short of his Dallas destination, police said.

Airline employees stopped Semaj from boarding another flight from San Antonio to Dallas when he couldn't explain why he didn't have the proper paperwork or a boarding pass, said David Hebert, spokesman for the San Antonio International Airport.

Airline staff turned the boy over to airport police after speaking with him at length and "not getting anywhere," Hebert said.

"Our officers brought him to the office and went through the same process," he said, adding that it took until early the next day before they could get the boy to share his real name and his situation.

"I think more than anything they were a little bit frustrated by his answers," he said. "From their standpoint, this was just a young man who seemed to be confused at first. Then he seemed to be flat-out lying."

The 80-pound, 4-foot-9 fourth-grader, held in juvenile detention Tuesday in San Antonio, was "incredibly motivated to get to Texas," Lakewood police Lt. David Guttu told The News Tribune of Tacoma. "He doesn't want to live in Washington state."

Charges filed
The Pierce County, Wash., prosecutor filed three charges against Booker on Wednesday in juvenile court, all related to the Sunday vehicle theft. The charges were sent to San Antonio, but Guttu wasn't sure what the next step would be.

"We really don't extradite juveniles. ><snip><