A missing 11-year-old Florida girl was found safe and sound inside the home of her 22-year-old “boyfriend.” Police arrested Luis Alberto Encarnacion after the girl was discovered in his Tampa home a day after an Amber Alert was issued to find her, Pasco County Sheriff Chris Nocco said at a press conference. The girl claimed that Encarnacion was her “boyfriend.”
Pasco County Sheriff
- Why on earth would a 22-year-old man be anywhere near an 11-year-old girl? “There is no logical sense for a 22-year-old man to be with an 11-year-old child unless there was horrific things that were going to continue or go on in that place,” Nocco said during the press conference. “In her mind, she thought Luis was her boyfriend. We all know that’s not real … What’s real is Luis acted like a predator on this little child.”
- Encarnacion clearly preyed on a vulnerable child. Given that the girl, who remains unnamed because of her age, came from a troubled background, Encarnacion clearly preyed on her. Her father is said to be absent and her mother is in jail, meaning she’d already been exposed to “numerous adverse childhood experiences” which made her vulnerable to people like Encarnacion. Nocco added: “She has gone from one adverse childhood experience to another … She is looking for that stability, that rock, love, that caring nature that most kids are given in life.”
- The girl is said to have met Encarnacion on social media. Two other men are said to have picked her up at a local 7-Eleven. Reginald Clark, 17, of Jacksonville, and Jonathon MacGregor, 19, of Clearwater, were caught on camera ushering her into a car, Click Orlando reports. They were arrested on charges of interfering with child custody.
- Hopefully Encarnacion will be sent to prison where he belongs. Encarnacion was charged with one count of concealing the location of a minor, a single count of unlawful use of a communication device, two counts of lewd or lascivious battery, and two counts of sexual battery against a victim under age 12. He is believed to have admitted his crimes after being taken into custody.
