State police charge man with kidnapping in connection with disappearance of Connecticut teen – NBC Connecticut

State police have filed kidnapping charges against the man arrested in New York over the weekend following the disappearance of a Connecticut teenager whose whereabouts have since been revealed.

Connecticut authorities on Wednesday filed three new charges against Marcos Alex Mendez Torres, 24, of New Haven in connection with the disappearance of a 15-year-old Connecticut girl last Sunday.

The additional charges of second-degree kidnapping, endangering a minor and enticement of a minor were filed days after New York police tracked down the missing teenager 45 miles from the Connecticut state line and charged Mendez Torres with her disappearance.

State police said they became aware of the teens’ disappearance early Sunday morning after her parents, upon noticing the teens’ disappearance from their home, learned from a friend of the teens “that they believed the missing teen had met and corresponded with an unknown person through social media.”

Officials said an investigation revealed that the teen had told her friend two months earlier that she was in a relationship with a man she met on Snapchat.

According to police, investigators also found that the teen’s parents and a neighbor reported seeing the same suspicious vehicle in the area last month.

According to police, the neighbor provided investigators with a photo of the suspect vehicle, allowing officers to identify Mendez Torres as the registered owner. According to police, officers were then able to match the birth date listed on Mendez Torres’ driver’s license to the birth date listed on the suspect’s Snapchat account, as well as the photo on his driver’s license to a photo provided of the suspect by the missing teen’s boyfriend.

After receiving information indicating that the suspect’s vehicle had been in the Middletown, New York area, police said they tracked Mendez Torres’ phone in nearby Montgomery and alerted local authorities.

Montgomery Police Chief John Hank announced on Facebook on Tuesday that officers were alerted shortly before 10:45 p.m. on Sunday to search for Mendez Torres in connection with the disappearance of the Connecticut teenager.

Officers found the suspect’s vehicle shortly thereafter, Hank said, and found Mendez Torres alone inside.

Hank said Mendez Torres told officers he “told the missing juvenile to run out of the vehicle” as police approached.

Officers from Montgomery and Middletown then used a search and rescue dog to locate the missing teen in a nearby wooded area, according to Montgomery police. Police took the teen, who was found “in good health,” to a nearby hospital to be evaluated and reunited with her family.

Montgomery Police charged Mendez Torres with child endangerment, issued him a restraining order to protect the victim, and released him on bail.

Mendez Torres was arrested by state police in Connecticut on Wednesday, three days after he was released from custody in New York. He is being held on $1 million bail. State police said their investigation is ongoing.