State police have filed a kidnapping charge against the man arrested in New York over the weekend following the disappearance of a since-located Connecticut teen.
Connecticut officials on Wednesday filed three new charges against Marcos Alex Mendez Torres, 24, of New Haven, in connection with the disappearance of a 15-year-old girl from Connecticut last Sunday.
The additional charges for second-degree kidnapping, risk of injury to a minor and enticing a minor came days after New York police located the missing teen 45 miles from the Connecticut state border and charged Mendez Torres in her disappearance.
State police said they were alerted to the teen’s disappearance early Sunday morning after her parent, upon discovering her missing from their home, found out from one of the teen’s friends “that they believed the missing juvenile had met and corresponded with an unknown individual through social media.”
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Officials said an investigation revealed that, two months prior, the teen had told her friend that she was in a relationship with a man she had met on Snapchat.
Investigators also discovered that the teen’s parent and a nearby neighbor reported seeing the same suspicious vehicle in the area over the previous month, according to police.
Police said the neighbor provided investigators with a photograph of the suspicious vehicle, allowing officials to identify Mendez Torres as the registered owner. According to police, officials were then able to match the birthday listed on Mendez Torres’ license to the birthday associated with the suspect’s Snapchat account, as well as the photo on his license to a photo the missing teen’s friend had provided of the suspect.
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After receiving information that indicated that the suspect’s vehicle had been in the area of Middletown, New York, police said they traced Mendez Torres’ phone to nearby Montgomery and alerted local officials.
Montgomery Chief of Police John Hank announced via Facebook Tuesday that officers were alerted just before 10:45 p.m. on Sunday to be on the lookout for Mendez Torres in connection with the Connecticut teen’s disappearance.
Officials located the suspect’s vehicle shortly thereafter, Hank said, finding Mendez Torres alone inside.
Hank said Mendez Torres told officers that “he told the missing juvenile to run from the vehicle” when police began approaching.
Officers from both Montgomery and Middletown then used a search and rescue K-9 to locate the missing teen in a nearby wooded area, according to Montgomery police. Police transported the teen, who they reported to have been found “in good health,” to a nearby hospital to be evaluated and reunited with her family.
Montgomery police charged Mendez Torres with endangering the welfare of a child, served him with an order of protection for the victim and released him on his own recognizance.
Mendez Torres was arrested by state police in Connecticut on Wednesday, three days after being released from custody in New York. He is being held on a $1 million bond. State police said their investigation is ongoing.
