A 20-year-old woman
has been charged with kidnapping after a teenage girl who went missing from her east Orlando home is found safe in Las Vegas, authorities said.
A 20-year-old woman is in police custody after a teenage girl went missing from her east Orlando home Wednesday, Orange County Sheriff Jerry Demings said Friday.
The 14-year-old girl was found Thursday in a public venue in Las Vegas, Nev., authorities said, after her mother reported her missing the night before.
“This is really another cautionary tale that resulted in the best possible outcome we could hope for because she was found alive,” Demings said.
The girl’s mother found a note in her bedroom, in which her daughter indicated she might harm herself.
Some of her classmates told detectives that the girl had a boyfriend she had met on Snapchat, a social media platform, and they had arranged to meet in February or March.
Authorities said the suspect, Alana Baker, flew to Orlando from Las Vegas to meet the girl and flew with her back to Nevada.
Baker is charged in Orange County with traveling to meet a minor, lewd and lascivious conduct, kidnapping and solicitation to meet a minor with certain uses of computer services or devices. “We’re still trying to determine who she is at this time,” Demings said, and added that Baker has no criminal record.
The investigation is ongoing and is being led by the Orange County Sex Crimes Unit, which also handles kidnapping cases of children younger than 12.
Sgt. Brandon Ragan said the details in the investigation don’t indicate she might be a victim of sex trafficking, but the victim was taken to a mental health facility in Las Vegas because the note she left behind suggested she could be a danger to herself.
“These types of activities should scare you,” Demings said. “You really need to understand what it is your children have access to.”