A 13-year-old Texas girl reported missing two weeks ago was found locked inside a shed in North Carolina more than 1,000 miles away from her home.
The shed is located on a property in Davidson County, where Jorge Camacho had been living for the last couple years. He was arrested on counts including child abduction, felonious restraint, statutory rape and other charges.
Camacho initially connected with the teen online and through Snapchat, where he eventually “enticed her to actually leave the home,” Davidson County Sheriff Richie Simmons said during a Monday news conference.
Camacho is accused of grooming her, driving down to Dallas, kidnapping her and locking her away in a shed, where he then allegedly sexually assaulted her.
The teen girl, who has not been named, was last seen in Dallas on March 1.
Shortly after she was reported missing, authorities in Texas uncovered Camacho’s internet chats with the teen. Simmons said the conversations were consistent with “grooming.”
“Video cameras in the area of the child’s home captured a suspect vehicle which was registered to an address in Davidson County,” police said in a press release.
On Friday, authorities spotted the vehicle as it exited the property and quickly initiated a traffic stop.
“During the traffic stop, it was determined that the juvenile was locked in an outbuilding on the property,” authorities said.
The teen girl was unharmed and taken to a hospital for evaluation. She has since returned home to Texas.
The property owner, Trop Sim, said Camacho was a friend of her son and that he’d been living with her for about two years.
“He live with me two years, he don’t show that he was that kind of person, so I don’t know why he do that,” Sim said, adding that she had no idea he’d had someone staying on the property.
Camacho made his first court appearance Monday afternoon and he was being held in lieu of $1.25 million bond. If convicted, he faces the possibility of life in prison without parole.
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