A Montgomery County father rescued his 15-year-old daughter after using parental controls on her phone to track her down following an abduction.
According to the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office, Patrol deputies responded to a home at about 4:50 p.m. on Christmas Day after the teenager took her dog for a walk and failed to return.
The father used phone tracking to locate her in a secluded, wooded area about two miles from their home in Texas.
When the father arrived at the location, he found his daughter and her dog inside a pickup truck with a partially nude man the sheriff’s office said. The father brought her home before contacting authorities.
According to CBS News, police used witness descriptions to identify the vehicle and its driver as Giovanni Rosales Espinoza, 23. Espinoza was arrested without incident and has been charged with aggravated kidnapping and indecency with a child. He is being held in the Montgomery County Jail without bond. The investigation remains ongoing.
CBS affiliate KHOU reported that the girl is recovering with her family and did not know the suspect.
“Christmas is a day meant for joy, but this man chose to shatter that joy by targeting a child,” Sheriff Wesley Doolittle said on social media. “I am incredibly proud of our deputies and detectives who worked tirelessly to ensure this dangerous predator was swiftly apprehended and is now off our streets.”