Courtesy: Polk County Sheriff's Office
DUNDEE, Fla. - A missing teenage girl has been recovered, and a registered sex offender has been arrested after she was discovered in a sex offender’s closet in Polk County.
What we know:
According to the Polk County Sheriff’s Office, the agency was contacted by the Orange County Sheriff’s Office on Monday because investigators believed a runaway teen was with a man in Dundee.
Polk County detectives went to 30-year-old Alexis Diaz-Toledo’s home to look for the missing 17-year-old girl.
Diaz-Toledo, according to investigators, denied knowing where the teen was and said he had not seen her for a few days.
Detectives said he initially refused to let them into his home.
Dig deeper:
However, investigators said they determined that Diaz-Toledo violated the terms of his sexual offender registration by not reporting two vehicles being kept at his home.
When detectives eventually searched Diaz-Toledo’s home, they said they found the missing teen hiding in his closet.
The teen was returned home and Diaz Toledo was arrested and charged with:
- Sex offender fail to comply with registration requirements
- Interfering with custody of a minor
- Sheltering a minor without notifying parent
- False information to LEO in a missing person investigation
The backstory:
Diaz-Toledo has been a registered sex offender since his conviction in 2014 for lewd, lascivious battery on a victim between 12-15 years old.
The Source: This article was written with information provided by the Polk County Sheriff’s Office.