Further details are being released regarding a 13-year-old Rochester girl located Saturday outside Chicago after allegedly being lured from her home by a man she met on social media.
The U.S. Marshals Service announced this week that authorities had found her and another teenage girl with an 18-year-old and his 49-year-old father. The two men are detained for being in the country illegally.
No criminal charges had yet been filed as of Tuesday afternoon. The investigation is ongoing.
According to authorities:
The girl was reported missing on Sept. 11. Security camera video showed she left the family home, met three people nearby and left with them in a light-colored SUV.
Rochester police requested assistance from the Marshals Service but did not notify the public. Working with the National
Center for Missing and Exploited Children, authorities tracked the girl to an apartment complex near a busy retail strip in Blue Island, Illinois, a half-hour south of Chicago.
The 18-year-old had contact with the girl via social media channels, officials said, but declined to specify which platform as they continue to investigate if there are other potential victims. The other girl found in the apartment has no relation to anyone in the group and is thought to have also been lured there by the 18-year-old.
U.S. Marshals Director Gadyaces Serralta spoke about the case Monday on Fox News, saying the three who met the girl were all men. He referred to “texting or some other online social media presence."
“They were exploiting her in Chicago,” Serralta said without elaborating.
The Marshalls Service is working with the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Chicago to release names and photos of the two men once charges are filed, a spokesperson said. Further details about the two men's immigration status, and the whereabouts of the third individual were not provided.
