Runaway North Augusta teen found safe in Florida
NORTH AUGUSTA, S.C. (WRDW/WAGT) - A North Augusta teen who went missing on Sept. 4 was found, according to authorities.
The North Augusta Department of Public Safety says Belinda Sanchez was found safe in Florida on Friday night.
North Augusta Department of Public Safety received a tip that Sanchez and her 20-year-old boyfriend, Marlon Canas-Trochez, were in Melrose, Fla., about 20 miles west of Gainesville.
The Putnam County Sheriff’s Office began searching an address where Sanchez and Trochez could possibly be, according to officials. They did not make at the residence.
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While at the residence, deputies were alerted to a possible location of the car the two were in, according to authorities.
Authorities from Putnam and Clay counties conducted a felony traffic stop and found Sanchez and Trochez.
Trochez was taken into custody. Sanchez was returned home safe.
“A big thanks goes out to all of our law enforcement partners that have invested many hours in this case to locate Belinda and have her safely returned home,” said the North Augusta Department of Public Safety in a statement.
Sanchez had been missing since Sept. 4.
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Her mother said she dropped off Sanchez at North Augusta High School at 8 a.m. that day, but the school said the teenager was absent from her classes that day.
The mother said Belinda is involved in a relationship with Trochez, and she’d last been able to track her daughter to a trailer in Clearwater outside North Augusta using Snapchat maps. After that, her daughter turned off her location on the app, the mother said.
Sanchez was last seen in a black color BMW 435i with a South Carolina tag XEF694 with Trochez, according to police.
On Sept. 5, the mother told police the family had heard from the girl.
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The mother said she’d learned her daughter and another girl had been picked up near the school by Trochez and Luis Mendoza.
The men had the girls wear blindfolds so they wouldn’t know where they were going, but they went to Clarks Hill Lake, according to the mother.
After a couple of stops, the girls were taken back to a park near North Augusta High. Sanchez was told to get rid of her phone and computer so she couldn’t be tracked, the mother said. Before driving off, apparently in a black BMW sedan with a spoiler on the back, Trochez told her that if she called or mentioned the matter to anyone, he’d come back and harm her, according to authorities.
Later, Sanchez called her mom from a blocked number, but her stepfather answered.
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The girl was crying, sounded scared and said she felt sick.
She said she didn’t know where she was but that it was somewhere in North Augusta. After that, a male could be heard in the background, and she hung up soon after that.
Police talked with teens who know Sanchez.
Police told one of the girls that Sanchez might be the victim of human trafficking, so she shouldn’t lie to law enforcement.
Police said the girl began to cry and itted still being in with Mendoza and said he, Trochez and Belinda were all out of state.
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