MARION COUNTY, Fla. – A 17-year-old boy accused of faking an abduction that sparked an Amber Alert last month has been arrested, according to the Marion County Sheriff’s Office.
The sheriff’s office on Tuesday said Caden Speight faces charges of presenting false evidence, shooting into a conveyance, making a false report of a crime and possession of a firearm by a minor.
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The sheriff’s office said the teen, who was last seen in Dunnellon, told a family member that he had been possibly abducted by four Hispanic men in a van. The sheriff’s office said it was investigating a reported shooting at the same location from which he was reported missing and had located an abandoned vehicle belonging to the teen.
However, sheriff’s officials said evidence collected during the investigation was “unsupportive” of the initial information.
“The initial details that Caden texted to his family were proven to be false. Completely made up,” Sheriff Billy Woods said in a release last month. “We did find evidence of a single gunshot where Caden left his truck. However, his claims that he had been shot and abducted were quickly disproven.”
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The sheriff’s office said on Tuesday that during its investigation, crime scene technicians found the teen’s phone severely damaged, drag marks in the dirt, a bullet hole through the windshield, suspected blood and tire tracks leading away from the truck.
According to the sheriff’s office, Caden stopped at a couple of stores prior to the incident, including a Walmart where he purchased a bicycle, tent and sleeping bag.
“Further investigation and testing revealed that Speight had fired the shot through the windshield, splattered a mixture of blood in the truck, and destroyed his cell phone. Speight then fled the area on a bicycle with camping supplies he purchased at Walmart just before reporting this incident,” the sheriff’s office said on Tuesday.
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The sheriff’s office said Caden had mentioned running away prior to the incident and had used ChatGPT to search how to collect blood without causing pain and to search about Mexican cartels.
Sheriff’s officials said the teen had also shot himself in the leg to “continue the ruse” prior to him being found safe in Williston.
Caden was arrested and transported to the Department of Juvenile Justice.