A missing 13-year-old Dallas girl has been found more than 1,000 miles away — in a North Carolina outbuilding, where a man locked her up after they met online and he enticed her to join him, officials said.
Jorge Ivan Santos Camacho, 34, was charged with abduction, felonious restraint, human trafficking, statutory rape, statutory sex offense and “indecent liberties,” referring to sexual servitude, WGHP reported.
Dallas police and the FBI said Camacho picked the teen up in his vehicle and drove her to his property in Lexington, NC, about an hour north of Charlotte, where she was found in the small shed, Davidson County Sheriff Richie Simmons said, according to WFAA.
“They discovered that the juvenile had been communicating with an adult male through social media chat platforms,” he told reporters Monday.
“The content of the chat was consistent with grooming and enticement, and he enticed her to leave home where he picked her up in the (Dallas) area,” the sheriff added.
Jorge Ivan Santos Camacho was arrested after police found a missing teen from Texas in his North Carolina home. WTVDThe victim’s mom — identified only as Esthela — told the outlet that the two chatted for months on Discord after they met while playing an online video game.
“It was very stressful and scary,” Esthela told WFAA. “We were hoping to see her again and thank God that was the case.”
Surveillance cameras near the girl’s house recorded a vehicle registered to the man’s address, officials said. A special agent with the Texas FBI Violent Crimes Task Force contacted the sheriff’s office on Friday.
The teen was locked in an outbuilding in Lexington, North Carolina. WTVD“Within 10 minutes our guys had eyes on that residence,” police Capt. Stephanie Murphy said. “Everything moved fairly quickly after that.”
Investigators found the vehicle and conducted a traffic stop on the suspect as he left the home, officials said.
During the stop, they figured out that the girl was locked in the outbuilding, where a bed, TV and some furniture could be seen in news footage.
She was taken for medical evaluation after being found locked in the shed. WTVD
The teen was eventually returned to Texas. WTVDThe girl was rescued and taken to a local hospital for treatment before returning home with her family, officials said.
“We’re going to work together, get as much help as we can and grow stronger,” Esthela told WFAA, as she warned other parents to keep tabs of what their kids are up to online.
She said she knew her daughter was a gamer and even knew her Discord login.
“We knew the risks, and we talked with her about them,” Esthela told the outlet. “But still this happened, it was something awful. It could have been a lot worse. It could have, and we’re lucky that it wasn’t.”
Cameras near the teen’s house spotted a vehicle registered to an address in Davidson County which led police to the property. WTVDThe property owner said she had let Camacho live in the outbuilding because he was friends with her son who lives in Texas, adding that she had no idea he had brought a girl into the shed.
“I thank God we were able to find this young girl,” Simmons said, WGHP reported.
Camacho was being held on a $1.25 million secure bond.
