A missing 13-year-old girl was rescued after being lured to a Florida motel room by a man she met online.
The teenager was reported missing when she failed to return home from school around 6:15 p.m. on Thursday, February 18.
Volusia Sheriff's Deputy Royce James went looking for the Oak Hill girl after speaking to a friend of the teenager who said she had been planning to go to a motel with someone she had met online, according to a news release from the Volusia County Sheriff's Office.
The friend said she believed the man's name started with a T, possibly Tyler, and he was from Orlando. She said he might have picked up the victim at the Dollar General store in Oak Hill.
Deputy James surveyed surveillance images of the victim at the store and spoke to an employee who reported that the girl had said she was waiting for someone to pick her up.
He then visited motels in the area to show desk clerks a photo of the missing girl and ask for the day's check-ins. An employee at the All Suite Motel in Edgewater confirmed a guest had checked in that day under the name of Tyler Thompson with an address in Orlando.
Body camera footage shows the officer knocking and entering the doorway of a darkened room at the motel when a shirtless man opens the door.
"When Deputy Royce James entered the doorway of the room ... the girl ran into his arms and gave him a hug," said the Volusia County Sheriff's Office statement.
James then orders the man, who was later identified as 22-year-old Tyler Thompson, to sit on the couch and repeatedly asks for his age. "If I have to ask you that question again I'm going to lose my f****** mind," the deputy said.
"Are you OK? Are you hurt at all?" James can be heard asking the girl as he tells her to wait outside.
Thompson was taken into custody on a charge of interference with child custody and traveling to meet after using a computer to lure a child, according to the Edgewater Police Department.
Police are working with the State Attorney's Office on potentially adding additional charges.
Thompson was released from Volusia County jail on Friday night after posting $15,000 bail on his current charges.
The girl was taken to the local Department of Children and Families facility for a medical evaluation and then taken home, police said.
Newsweek has contacted the Volusia County Sheriff's Office and the Edgewater Police Department for comment.
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