A Gwinnett County man is facing child molestation charges after being found at a Norcross-area motel with a 14-year-old Michigan girl reported missing over the weekend.
Victor Alfonso Martinez, 28, was booked into the Gwinnett County Jail just after 8 p.m. Tuesday on charges of aggravated child molestation and interference with custody. He was being held without bond Wednesday, according to jail records.
According to WOOD-TV in Grand Rapids, Mich., a 14-year-old girl from Marshall, Mich., was reported missing over the weekend, touching off a nationwide search that involved the FBI, state and local agencies and the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.
Police believe the girl and Martinez met online and had communicated on Skype and on social media for about a month before Martinez allegedly drove to Michigan on Saturday and picked her up, the station reported.
Authorities tracked Martinez to a Gwinnett County motel through “pings” from his cell phone, according to Gwinnett police Cpl. Michele Pihera.
“Gwinnett County police and other law enforcement agencies traveled to the hotel and went door-to-door looking for the suspect and the missing teen,” Pihera said Wednesday.
“The suspect did not register using his name at the hotel,” she said in an email. “Eventually, the suspect and the missing teen were located and taken into custody.”
The girl’s parents were en route to Georgia to pick up their daughter, Pihera said.
In addition to the Gwinnett charges, Martinez will likely also face criminal charges in Michigan, a Michigan State Police spokesman said at a Tuesday evening news conference.
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