Photo: Davidson County Sheriff’s Office
A 13-year-old girl who was missing has been found locked inside a shed in North Carolina. A man is in custody and charged with several crimes including human trafficking.
Davidson County Sheriff Richard Simmons said during a press briefing on Monday thatthe young teenager had gone missingfrom Dallas after she “had been communicating with an adult male” on the internet. The local sheriff’s department had received a tip from the FBI on Friday evening around 6 p.m.
“The content of the chat was consistent with grooming and enticement,” Simmons said. “He enticed her to actually leave the home where he picked her up in the area.”
Federal agents reached out to Davidson County investigators who found the victim.
“We were able to make a traffic vehicle stop and were able to get a target. We were able to find the location of the 13-year-old juvenile,” said Simmons, adding that she was found in a shed near a home. The teenager then received treatment and has since returned to Texas.
Simmons shared that a 34-year-old man named Jorge Camacho is now in custody in Davidson County and being held on a bond of more than $1.2 million. He’s being charged with abduction of children, felonious restraint, human trafficking, two counts of statutory rape of a child under 15, two counts of statutory sexual offense with a child under 15, and indecent liberties with a child. All of the charges are felonies.
Camacho’s first court appearance was earlier Monday. Simmons later said more charges would be pending against Camacho, who lived at the home where the victim was found.
Capt. Stephanie Murphy, with the Davidson County Sheriff’s Office, later told reporters that Camacho was found after his car was seen on surveillance video in the same area the victim was taken and transported to North Carolina.
During the briefing, Simmons likened the case to a previous incident when a teenager was taken from Davidson County and later found in Arkansas. He used both situations to send a warning to parents on “how dangerous these chat platforms are.”
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“As parents, they’ve got to wise up and see that the dangers of these kids, it just continues to go on,” Simmons said.
He added that similar cases have “skyrocketed” since 2021 and that he’s fighting for police to be able to tackle more of these incidents. He also held parents accountable.
“We’ve got to get a hold on this, but we’ve also got to get the help of adults, of the parents, of the guardians, of these kids … That’s how these things happen, not being supervised. These kids are very sharp with these computers in their rooms,” Simmons said.
He asked the community for “help” and said while they were able to find the victim this time, that might not be the outcome for every case.
“This is becoming a major problem and this is how kids are sold into human trafficking. They’re not being able to be kids. How a 13-year-old would think it’s a good idea to leave the home, what are we teaching the kids in our home? It scares me,” Simmons said.
The sheriff noted that this case is still under investigation so he couldn’t share certain details.
It’s not clear if Camacho has a lawyer who can comment on his behalf.
If you or someone you know has been sexually assaulted, please contact the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673) or go torainn.org.
source: people.com
