The search for a missing 12-year-old Georgia girl has ended after she was found 10 hours away in Ohio with a 34-year-old man she met online.
Police say she was discovered after allegedly telling her father to stop looking for her because she wasn’t coming home.
Maria Gomez-Perez, of Gainesville, Georgia, was last seen on May 29 in the driveway of her home and was found two months later on July 25 in Ohio with Antonio Agustin-Ailon, of Guatemala. At a press conference on July 26, police clarified that Agustin was 31 years old, although earlier reports and Ohio jail records indicated he was 34.
Hall County Sheriff Gerald Couch stated that Gomez-Perez was found “safe and OK” in another state after being missing for nearly two months. Sheriff Couch reported that Gomez-Perez had been communicating with Agustin online before her disappearance, primarily through Facebook and other apps.
Sheriff Couch said, “Maria had indicated that she was unhappy and she wanted to leave home.” He also noted that she had been in contact with other “adult males” online, giving them similar information.
He emphasized, “Let me be very clear on this – Maria is the victim here. Remember she is only 12 years old.”
Authorities have not disclosed the charges against Agustin but indicated he is expected to face several felony charges in Georgia and Ohio for transporting a child across state lines. Agustin allegedly drove from his home in Ohio to pick up Gomez-Perez from Gainesville, GA, on May 29. Police believe he had the child with him at his home the entire time she was missing.
The case took a turn when Gomez-Perez messaged her father, Andres Gomez, on Facebook, asking him to stop searching for her and saying she would not be coming home. Using a new Facebook account, she told him she was alright. Her father alerted the authorities, who traced the IP address to Dover, Ohio, where they found Agustin with the girl at a local swimming pool.
Law enforcement officials from the Hall County Sheriff’s Department and the Tuscarawas County Sheriff’s Office arrested Agustin in a shopping center parking lot and safely rescued the child.
