UNION COUNTY, S.C. (WSPA) — Authorities have located a 12-year-old girl from Plant City, who was reported missing. The girl was discovered in South Carolina, where deputies determined she had been brought by a man intending for her to become his “living partner.”
The Union County Sheriff’s Office reported the girl’s recovery on May 22. She was safely returned to the sheriff’s office, and the Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE) was alerted to the situation.
According to deputies, the girl showed bruises on her neck and arm. She communicated, with the help of an interpreter, that she had been taken from Florida by a man employed in Georgia at that time. On May 23, the man contacted the sheriff’s office and conversed with the officers.
The man, identified as 22-year-old Jose Miguel Lagos, allegedly met the girl through an app. Lagos reportedly said that he believed the girl to be 16 when they started talking, and that she told him he was being abused.
Lagos drove down to Tampa to pick the girl up and brought her back to Union for them to be “living partners.”
Officers asked Lagos where the bruises on the girl’s neck came from, and Lagos said that he had given her hickies. Lagos also stated that he and the girl have had sexual intercourse.
Lagos was arrested and charged with one count of second-degree criminal sexual conduct with a minor. Lagos is also facing a charge of interference with custody in Plant City, Florida.
