Volusia County

Body Cam Footage Shows Florida Cop Saving Girl, 13, From Motel Room With Older Man

When a 13-year-old girl went missing in Volusia County, a sheriff's deputy tracked her down and rescued her from a motel room with an older man, body cam footage shows.

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Newly released body cam footage shows the moment a missing Florida girl was found in a motel room after she was lured there by an older man she met online.

Sheriff's Deputy Royce James found the missing Volusia County girl after knocking on several motel room doors throughout the area, the footage shows. The girl was eventually located at the All Suite Motel at 335 N. Ridgewood Ave. in Edgewater.

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Video shows the girl running into the officer's arms and hugging him when he appears in the doorway. The 22-year-old suspect, Tyler Thompson, was taken into custody on a charge of interference with child custody.

"Are you okay? Are you hurt at all?" James asks the girl after telling Thompson to have a seat on the couch.

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James then begins asking Thompson to reveal his age.

"How old are you?" he asks. "If I ask you that question again I'm going to lose my [expletive] mind."

Thompson eventually obliges, telling James he's 22 years old.

"Oh you're [expletive] up," James says.

Officials first received the missing child report at around 6:15 p.m. Thursday, according to a statement. The missing girl's grandmother said she never came home after school.

James started investigating, speaking to a friend of the girl, who said she had been planning to go to a motel room with a man she met online.

The friend told James that Thompson may have picked up the girl at a Dollar General store in Oak Hill.

From there, James tracked down the girl's whereabouts, eventually finding her at the Edgewater motel.

Officials are continuing to investigate the incident. Thompson, who was booked into the Volusia County Branch Jail, was released Friday night after posting $15,000 bail on his current charges.

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