SMITHFIELD – A missing 14 year-old Smithfield girl was found safe in Virginia late-Friday and a 21 year-old man with the juvenile was charged with child abduction and second-degree kidnapping.
Around 2:00PM Friday, Smithfield Police said the 14 year-old disappeared from her home on Dundee Street. The child’s parents believed she left willingly with a male acquaintance but they did not know the man’s name or their whereabouts. Police said they learned the suspect had met the juvenile online about six months earlier.
Police issued a broadcast to law enforcement agencies to attempt to locate the missing juvenile. A few hours later a Virginia state trooper with the assistance of a US Marshal located the suspect and victim at a convenience store in Hopewell, Virginia. Julio Cesar-Campos Vasquez, 21, was arrested and held in the Henrico County, Virginia Jail pending extradition to North Carolina.
The child’s mother drove to Virginia to pick up the 14 year-old Friday night and she was safely returned home. Police said the juvenile had not been harmed. A second person with Vasqeuz was questioned by Virginia authorities and later released without being charged.
