Deputies discover missing 16-year-old girl during routine traffic stop

‘This is a true case of child trafficking,’ Nash County Sheriff Keith Stone said

Alejandro Hernandez Vazquez is facing several charges including child abduction after being pulled over during a routine traffic stop in Nash County, North Carolina (Nash County Sheriff’s Office)

Deputies in North Carolina have arrested a Florida man on suspicion of child abduction after finding a missing 16-year-old girl in his car during a routine traffic stop.

Alejandro Hernandez Vazquez, 40, was pulled over for a traffic violation on the I-95 in Nash County at about midnight on 4 July, authorities say.

Deputies became suspicious and asked to search his white 2016 Audi Q5, and learned that a teenage passenger had been reported missing hours earlier by the Coral Springs Police Department in Florida.

According to Nash County Sheriff’s Office, Mr Vazquez was not known to the girl’s family and did not have permission to cross state lines.

Deputies also found cannibas vape pens and drug paraphernalia in the car, they said.

Mr Vazquez, from Miami, was booked into the Nash County Detention Center on charges of child abduction, felony possession of synthetic cannabinoids, possession of marijuana paraphernalia and contributing to the delinquency of a minor.

He was initially jailed without bond. At a court appearance on Friday 7 July, his bond was set at $505,000.

The missing girl was transported to the Wake County Juvenile Detention Center before being picked by family.

“The 16-year-old willfully went with him is what we’re seeing at first glance of this investigation,” Nash County Sheriff Keith Stone told ABC11.

“It was not like she was bound in the car and things of that nature, but you know, it’s a young 16-year-old and a grown man, and he’s manipulated her and carried her across this country. This is a true case of child trafficking,” he added.