A 12-year-old girl reported missing nearly two months ago from her home was found safe in Ohio after she contacted her father through Facebook, the Hall County sheriff said Friday.
Maria Gomez-Perez of Gainesville was reported missing May 29, launching a massive search.
“Maria is safe and OK,” the sheriff’s office said in a Facebook post late Thursday.
Investigators believe she had been using social media to communicate with a 34-year-old man from Dover, Ohio, who drove to Georgia to pick her up.
“She sought to leave home, and this person came and got her,” Sheriff Gerald Couch said Friday morning during a news conference.
Last week, the girl contacted her father through a new Facebook account she had created, Couch said.
“She asked him to stop looking for her,” according to the sheriff.
But her father reported the communication to investigators, who tracked the IP address to Ohio. Four investigators from the Hall County Sheriff’s Office traveled to Ohio, where they saw the girl with the man, identified as Antonio Agustin, a Guatemalan native.
Agustin was arrested and will face felony charges in both Ohio and Georgia, Couch said. Maria was taken to a local hospital for evaluation and is expected to be returned to Gainesville later Friday, the sheriff said.
During a June 11 news conference, Couch said investigators believed she may have made contact with an unknown person who picked her up from her house. He said there was a chance Maria left willingly, but that she still could be in danger.
“She’s a child, and to be gone (this) long, that’s a serious issue,” the sheriff said. “But yes, I do consider her in danger. Very much so.”
The sheriff’s office was flooded with dozens of tips after Maria’s disappearance. A reward of $50,000 was later offered to help find her. But no one is eligible for the reward since Maria led investigators to her location.
Couch said that while technology helped investigators find Maria, it also allowed her to be in touch with those like Agustin. It’s a reminder for parents and guardians to know their children’s Internet activities.
“Technology can be a wonderful thing. It helped us locate Maria” Couch said. “But, technology can also be used for evil. It’s why Maria was able to leave Gainesville with a stranger and travel nine hours from her home. So, please, know what your children are doing and who they’re communicating with. They’re our most vulnerable citizens, and we need to keep them safe.”
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