NEW HAVEN, Conn. — A New Haven man is accused of kidnapping a teen he had been chatting with on Snapchat and having explicit relations with.
A parent called Connecticut state police to their home around 4:30 a.m. Sunday, saying their 15-year-old girl was missing.
The parent told police that a few days before, they saw a white sedan with a man inside parked in the area. The parent wrote down the registration number and a neighbor took a photo of the car, which helped investigators later track down the car, state police said.
State police canvassed the area and deployed a K9 team to try to find the missing teen to no avail, troopers said.
After state police spoke to the teen's parent, friends and neighbors throughout the day, investigators determined that the teen was with Marcos Alex Mendez Torres, 24, of New Haven. These witnesses told police that Mendez Torres interacted with the teen on Snapchat and were dating.
Local police learned later that Sunday that Mendez Torres was in Montgomery, New York. Police in the area then found the suspect vehicle and Mendez Torres.
Montgomery police also deployed a K-9 team in a wooded area to find the missing teen, who had run off; she was later found.
Mendes Torres was with endangering the welfare of a child while under Montgomery police custody. He was then released and arrested in New Haven on Wednesday and taken into state police custody. He was charged with risk of injury to a minor, kidnapping and enticing a minor online.
He was held on a $1 million bond and is scheduled to appear in court on Thursday.
State police are continuing to investigate.
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