By Elizabeth Brewer
The Record-Eagle, Traverse City, Mich.
TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. — It was all hands on deck in the Traverse City Police Department detective bureau Friday evening after they learned a 16-year-old girl possibly had been kidnapped.
She was found early Saturday, and safely reunited with her mother that night. But that outcome required quick coordination between at least six law enforcement agencies in a 27-hour time span.
It started, Investigative Services Capt. Keith Gillis said, when TCPD responded to a missing persons complaint in the 800 block of Bates Street at 5:58 p.m. Friday .
The teen had not returned home from school that day.
Earlier that day, police said, she had told her friend that, instead of riding the bus home with her, she would be getting a ride home with a guy from Chicago , someone she had met on social media. In the past few months, he had come up at times to hang out with her.
According to Gillis, that 21-year-old man had lied to the girl about his name and age.
He told her he was 17 and he went by a fake name on the social media account he was using with the girl, something that’s not uncommon in criminal internet activity, Gillis said.
On Friday, she texted her friend that she had gotten into the man’s car and he was driving her to an unknown location instead of giving her a ride home from school.
She texted her friend that she was scared.
Once Traverse City police were notified, Gillis said, they contacted Grand Traverse County Central Dispatch , Grand Traverse County Sheriff’s Office , Michigan State Police , Federal Bureau of Investigations offices in Traverse City and Chicago , Homeland Security and the Mount Prospect Police Department in Illinois.
“The diligence and the effort put out by the road patrol officers and the sergeants from the Traverse City Police Department are the reason for the success of this particular case,” Gillis said. “They wasted no time in getting information and activating all the resources from the detectives, myself, the FBI, the state police, the Grand Traverse County Sheriff’s Department, Homeland Security — making this happen and the relationships we have with all these other agencies, this is a prime example of good police work.”
Applying the latest investigative techniques in a collaboration with all the law enforcement agencies involved, they tracked the suspect to an apartment complex in the Chicago suburbs. It was 1:30 a.m. Saturday.
The local police department found them in the apartment and took them to the station for questioning.
FBI agents based out of Chicago interviewed the girl and the man with the help of a Spanish speaking translator to confirm the circumstances, that the situation was not a runaway, Gillis said.
Based on his answers, the man was taken into custody at the Cook County Jail in Illinois. The Grand Traverse County Prosecutor’s Office filed paperwork to extradite him so they can press charges against him in northern Michigan.
The 16-year-old girl was then brought back to Traverse City with the help of FBI agents from Chicago and Traverse City , and reunited with her mother by 9 p.m. Saturday.
She and her family spoke with local law enforcement through a Michigan State Police translator to aid the investigation and clarify the charges, Gillis said.
The man could face charges that include first-degree kidnapping, transporting a juvenile over state lines and tampering with a 911 device, police said.
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