An individual from Louisiana who is suspected of kidnapping a 12-year-old girl from North Carolina has been taken into custody after deputies in Georgia discovered the two of them during a routine traffic stop.
At approximately three o’clock in the afternoon on Wednesday, July 10, the Hall County Sheriff’s Office reported that Kenton Jesus Enamorado Ventura, who was 18 years old at the time, was pulled over along Interstate 985, approximately one mile south of Spout Springs Road.
Investigators were notified after Ventura and his passenger, a girl from Leicester who was 12 years old, provided contradictory statements regarding their relationship, according to the deputies.
After collaborating with police from Buncombe County and Louisiana, investigators from Hall County have come to the conclusion that Ventura met the girl online and that they spoke with one another for approximately a year using WhatsApp, which is a widely used messaging application.
According to the preliminary information provided by authorities from Hall County, Ventura traveled from Louisiana to North Carolina in order to retrieve the child from her residence at approximately noon on Wednesday. The child and Ventura were then on their way to Ventura’s residence in West Monroe, Louisiana.
The information provided by the sheriff’s office indicates that the girl’s father was not aware that she had fled.
The girl was returned to her father by the authorities in Hall County, though Ventura was taken into custody for traffic offenses. However, according to the department, Ventura was released from its custody on July 28 in order to be transferred to Buncombe County.
After being charged with the felony of abducting children, Ventura is currently being held on a secured bond of $500,000, as stated by the Buncombe County Public Safety Commission.