Digital Kidnapping
Meredith Steele explains why it's important to keep pictures of your children private on social media. (Credit: Meredith Steele/SWNS)
A North Carolina man has been charged with a half-dozen felonies, including human trafficking and child rape, after deputies recovered a missing Texas 13-year-old in his shed.
Jorge Ivan Santos Camacho, 34, is accused of grooming the teen online, driving down to Dallas to pick her up and abducting her to Lexington, where he allegedly sexually assaulted her and kept her locked in a shed where he was living.
Dallas police had been looking for the girl and tracked her online communications to Camacho, according to the Davidson County Sheriff's Office, which received a notification from the FBI on March 10.
"The content of the chat was consistent with grooming and enticement," the sheriff's office said in a news release. "Video cameras in the area of the child’s home captured a suspect vehicle which was registered to an address in Davidson County."
WASHINGTON PODCASTER KILLED BY TEXAS STALKER HAD MAJOR BACK SURGERY, LIMITED MOBILITY BEFORE AMBUSH
Jorge Ivan Santos Camacho is accused of grooming and abducting a 13-year-old Dallas girl and sexually assaulting her while keeping her locked in a shed in Lexington, North Carolina. (Davidson County Sheriff's Office)
Authorities found the vehicle in town and pulled it over.
"During the traffic stop, it was determined that the juvenile was locked in an outbuilding on the property," authorities said.
The shed on a North Carolina property where child abduction suspect Jorge Camacho was allegedly living with a captive Dallas teen. (APTN)
The sheriff's emergency response team entered the shed and recovered the girl, who authorities said "did not appear to have any physical injuries."
She was taken to a hospital for evaluation and then returned to her family in Texas.
UTAH FARMER DYLAN ROUNDS REMAINS MISSING AS PRIME SUSPECT CHARGED WITH MURDER
The property owner told FOX 4 in Dallas-Fort Worth that Camacho had been living in her shed for about two years and was friends with her son. (APTN)
A number for the property owner was disconnected Tuesday morning. She told the Dallas-Fort Worth-based FOX 4 that Camacho had been living in the shed for about two years and was friends with her son.
"I just took him in, helped him out," she told the station. "I’m not involved with whatever he’s doing, because I didn’t know he was that kind of person."
The FBI and local deputies stopped Camacho's vehicle in Lexington, N.C., and learned of the girl's whereabouts. (APTN)
Camacho is being held at the Davidson County Jail in Lexington on $1.25 million bond for charges of child abduction, felonious restraint, trafficking, statutory rape of a child under 15, sex with a child under 15 and indecent liberties, all felonies.
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
Additional charges were pending.
Fox News' Haley Chi-Sing contributed to this report.
