SURPRISE, Arizona—A 17-year-old girl abducted from an Idaho fast food restaurant where she worked was found safe in Arizona on Tuesday, May 21, and the man accused of taking her was jailed on a $1 million bond, authorities said.
Police in the Phoenix suburb of Surprise said 18-year-old Miguel Rodriguez-Perez of Jerome, Idaho, was taken into custody without incident after he sped through a traffic stop and abandoned his car.
An AMBER Alert was issued for 17-year-old Sandra Rios-Chavez by the Arizona Department of Transportation.
*PLEASE SHARE* An Amber Alert has been issued for Sandra Rios-Chavez, 17, of Idaho. Police say Miguel Rodriguez-Perez abducted her. His phone has pinged in Kingman. He has contacts in Mexico. He has a 2015 black Audi A4 with Idaho plate 2J-83179. Please call 911 if you see them. pic.twitter.com/hhHNWF4VrG
— Arizona DOT (@ArizonaDOT) May 21, 2019
Authorities tracked Rodriguez-Perez through his cellphone signal and he and the girl were found hiding underneath some bushes, according to police.
Officers found his vehicle, a black Audi that matched the AMBER Alert description, and tried to pull it over. The car sped away and was found by officers sometime later, Fox10 reported.
They said Rios-Chavez was examined by doctors, found to be unharmed and was waiting to be reunited with her family.
Rodriguez-Perez was booked into a Phoenix jail on an outstanding felony warrant issued in Idaho and for being a fugitive from justice.
No other charges were immediately listed and he didn’t have an attorney at his initial court appearance Tuesday afternoon.
Authorities said Rodriguez-Perez allegedly forced the girl from her job at a Wendy’s restaurant in Jerome on Sunday evening.
The girl had an order of protection against Rodriguez-Perez, who police said has previously threatened and assaulted her.
Court documents released Tuesday stated that Rodriguez-Perez “was said to have abducted the victim, raped and assaulted her and he made threats to kill her” and the suspect “had an active warrant out of Idaho for the current incident.”
The probable cause statement didn’t list any dates or details of the alleged assault and threats.
Missing Persons
Over 600,000 people go missing in the United States every year, according to the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System.
Many of the missing adults and children are found safe but others are never found or are found dead.
“It is estimated that 4,400 unidentified bodies are recovered each year, with approximately 1,000 of those bodies remaining unidentified after one year,” the center stated.
As of January 22, there were 15,325 open missing person cases in addition to 12,449 open unidentified person cases.
Epoch Times reporter Jack Phillips contributed to this article.
