A sheriff from North Carolina has a chilling warning for parents everywhere after a 16 year-old girl was rescued from a car during a “routine” traffic stop.
An abducted Florida teenager was rescued from a “true case of child trafficking” last week after North Carolina cops conducted a routine traffic stop on her kidnapper’s car.
Alejandro Hernandez Vazquez, 40, of Miami was pulled over for a traffic violation just past midnight July… pic.twitter.com/5UwBJgDKtA
— Paul Kang (@LPaulKang) July 13, 2023
Police Rescue Teenage Girl
Fox News reported that police in North Carolina were carrying out a routine traffic stop on the Fourth of July when they noticed that the female passenger in the vehicle resembled a 16 year-old girl who had been reported missing in Florida hours before.
A press release states that after pulling over a white Audi with Florida license plates on I-95 just after midnight for a traffic violation, police asked the 40 year-old driver Alejandro Hernandez Vazquez some “routine” questions and “developed reasonable suspicion to believe that criminal activity was afoot.”
It was only when Vazquez finally gave police consent to search his vehicle that officers realized that the 16 year-old passenger had been reported missing by the Coral Springs Police Department in Florida just five hours before.
When questioned by police, the teenager admitted who she was and told officers that she had met Vazquez online. She has since been returned to her family, who said that they had never met Vazquez, and that they did not give him permission to drive the teenager across state lines.
Vazquez, who is a resident of Miami, Florida, has since been charged with the following crimes:
Abduction of child
Felony possession of synthetic cannabinoid
Possession of marijuana paraphernalia
Contributing to the delinquency of a minor
Vazquez is currently being held at the Nash County Detention Center after being booked on $505,000 bond.
Find out more about this in the video below.
Related: Casey DeSantis Draws a Line Against Groomers: ‘They’re Not Yours’
Chilling Warning To Parents
In the wake of this incident, Nash County Sheriff Keith Stone has a warning for the public that parents everywhere would do well to heed.
“Monitor your kids’ social media because a lot of this stuff starts with people preying on children,” Sheriff Stone told WRAL. “If you’re not monitoring what your child is doing on the internet, then there’s the possibility that people are taking advantage of them.”
“This older guy here was taking advantage of the 16-year-old,” the sheriff continued. “He was carrying her up north, and I’m sure it was not in the best interest of that girl or for society.”
“It was not like she was bound in the car and things of that nature, but you know, it’s a young 16-year-old and a grown man, and he’s manipulated her and carried her across this country,” Stone later added to ABC News. “This is a true case of child trafficking.”
Find out more about this in the video below.
Related: Florida Governor DeSantis Signs Bill Allowing the Death Penalty for Child Rapists
‘Start Talking With Your Teen’
Dr. Heather Williams, a pediatrician with Safe Child NC, had similar advice for parents.
“The best thing to do is start talking with your teen and familiarize yourself with what is on their phone,” Williams said. “There are even apps you can download that go as far as monitoring all of their activity to just alerting you to something on your phone that’s not ok, even doing parental controls.”
The internet has only made it easier for predators to prey on our children, which is why it’s important now more than ever that parents stay vigilant when it comes to monitoring their kids’ online activity. While we’re glad that the story of this 16 year-old victim had a happy ending, we’re also saddened that there are countless minors out there in her position who will tragically never be rescued.
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