FBI Director Kash Patel has revealed that the FBI and partners have recused a missing 14-year-old girl from an “alleged online predator.” The Allegheny County teen was reportedly lured from her home over the weekend by 27-year-old Christopher Jones from Luzerne County, who contacted the child on the online chat platform Discord, CBS News reported.
“@FBIPittsburgh received a call this week from partners on a young girl who had gone missing from her home. Agents and analysts immediately acted, and through a Discord channel and iPad left at the girl’s residence, identified a suspect’s location and vehicle near @FBIPhiladelphia,” Patel wrote on X.
“Within minutes, our Philadelphia team deployed to the residence and executed a search warrant – locating and recovering the 14 year old who is now safe and reunited with family. The suspect was immediately arrested at the scene,” he continued.
“Tremendous victory with our partners Whitehall PD and the best of the FBI – executing quickly to save a young girl’s life,” Patel added.
The incident
The girl was reported missing by her family on Sunday. Jason Gagorik, chief of the Whitehall Borough Police Department, said that investigators believe she was lured from her home sometime between 11 pm Saturday and noon on Sunday. The communication between the teen and Jones started on May 1, he added.
“Upon review of the communications, it was discovered that (Jones) was aware of the teen’s age, discussed specific sexual acts with the teen, offered to bring the teen to his home to visit an amusement park in the eastern part of the state, and suggested their cover story would be that they were father and daughter if anybody questioned why they were together,” said Gagorik.
Gagorik said law enforcement agencies, including the FBI and Secret Service, found the girl after tracking Jones’ location.
“At approximately 9:30 that night on Monday, May 4, agents entered the residence safely, locating the teen inside. Christopher Jones was immediately taken into custody,” Gagorik said.
The teen was subsequently taken to a local medical facility in the eastern part of the state as a precaution. She was later reunited with her family.
“This case serves as an important reminder to families and guardians about the importance of being vigilant with what your children are doing online,” Gagorik said.
‘We encourage parents to maintain open communication with their children’
Local police, along with the FBI’s Pittsburgh Field Office and the Secret Service, emphasized the importance of knowing what children are doing online. “You can’t just assume that your child’s just playing a video game anymore. It is extremely dangerous to be online,” said Robert Pyle, a special agent with the U.S. Secret Service, at a news conference on Wednesday.
The FBI stressed the predators can be everywhere, not just a particular app or social media site.
“These threats, frankly, move at the speed of social media. But if you are out there trying to prey on a minor, I want you to know that so too does law enforcement move at the speed of social media,” Richard Evanchec with the FBI’s Pittsburgh Field Office said.
Evanchec explained that investigators connected Jones to the missing girl after finding evidence on her iPad.
“A preliminary review of the information inside the iPad showed that she had been communicating with several people outside of the Baldwin-Whitehall area,” Gagorik said.
“We encourage parents to maintain open communication with their children. Talk to them about the dangers of who they talk to, and, most importantly, do not share their private personal information with anybody other than known friends or family,” he added.
Jones is currently behind bars, awaiting extradition to Allegheny County. He faces several charges, including unlawful contact with a minor, corruption of a minor and attempt to commit several sexual offenses.
“If you think that you’re in a position where you’re going to try to harm or kidnap or otherwise terrorize a minor, know that the FBI, Secret Service, Whitehall Police Department and our partners are going to move just as fast as you are to get you in custody,” Evanchec said.
