POLK COUNTY, Fla. – A runaway teen girl was discovered in the bedroom closet of a sex offender in Polk County this week, according to the sheriff’s office.
In a release, Sheriff Grady Judd said his agency was contacted by Orange County detectives on Monday about the 17-year-old girl, who was believed to be with a man in Dundee.
Afterward, deputies responded to the Dundee home of 30-year-old Alexis Diaz-Toledo to search for the missing teen.
“Diaz-Toledo denied any knowledge of the girl’s whereabouts and said that he had not seen her for a couple of days,” the release reads. “He initially refused to let detectives search his home.”
However, detectives at the scene said they determined that Diaz-Toledo had violated the terms of his sex offender registration by not reporting two of the vehicles kept at the home.
As a result, detectives searched his home, ultimately finding the girl hiding in Diaz-Toledo’s bedroom closet, Judd wrote.
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She was soon returned home, though Diaz-Toledo was arrested and now faces the following charges:
- Failing to comply with sex offender registration requirements (2 counts)
- Interfering with the custody of a minor
- Sheltering a minor without notifying her parent
- False information to law enforcement officers during a missing person investigation
According to Judd, Diaz-Toledo has been a registered sex offender ever since he was convicted in 2014 for lewd, lascivious battery on a victim between 12-15 years old.