The missing 16-year-old high school girl was found by law enforcement officers in California along with the 25-year-old wrestling coach she with whom she absconded.
The teen, a junior at Franklin High School in Stockton, where Phillip Maglaya was part of the wrestling team as a volunteer coach, was found in a residence in Stockton, according to San Joaquin County Sheriff’s Office spokesman Dave Konecny.
Konecny told the Sacramento Bee that an anonymous tip led officers to the house and that the girl was found around 7:45 a.m. on Aug. 30. She was reported missing on Aug. 22.
The office in a statement posted on Facebook thanked the community for tips regarding the location of the teenager and her coach.
“At approximately 1 o’clock this morning, we received information from an anonymous caller who reported they may have spotted Philip Maglaya and the missing juvenile. With that information, sheriff’s deputies responded to East Mendocino Avenue in Stockton, locating Maglaya and the missing juvenile. She was found physically unharmed and is in good condition,” the office stated.
The girl was taken to her family while Maglaya was arrested and charged with child abduction, child endangerment, and contact with a minor for a sex offense.
He was also charged with harmful matter sent to a child with the intent to seduce, contributing to the delinquency of a minor, and additional felony sex offenses involving a minor.
WANTED: SJC Sheriff’s Office looking for Franklin High wrestling coach Phillip Maglaya, alleged to be traveling with 16-year-old girl. The two are believed to be in romantic relationship. Truck below has license plate number 8G91493. Call (209) 468-4400 if you see them. pic.twitter.com/YjhnSIwVoK
— Nicholas Filipas (@nicholasfilipas) August 25, 2018
Friends Didn’t Know
Friends of the teen said they didn’t know about the relationship between her and Maglaya.
“She mentioned someone, but not that it was a wrestling coach or anything, just someone that she might like,” Franklin High junior Brisa Madrigal told CBS. “She never told us who he was, or where he’s from, or anything.”
Stockton Unified School District had said that Maglaya was a volunteer, nonpaid, wrestling coach at the high school but that he had passed background checks and other vetting before joining the staff.
The family of a missing Franklin High School teen is seeking the public’s help in bringing her home. Alexus is believed to be with 25-year-old Phillip Maglaya, a volunteer walk-on wrestling coach at Franklin High. https://t.co/GZLoQJq4mj
— Recordnet (@Recordnet) August 28, 2018
Family Urged Public to Help
The teenager was later identified by her first name, Alexus, by law enforcement officials, and described as being 5 feet 5 inches tall, weighing 160 pounds, and having brown hair and brown eyes.
The sheriff’s office had also released a statement from Alexus’s family this week, according to the Bee.
“The last time I saw my daughter I was getting ready for work,” her father said in part of the statement.
“As I was sitting on the couch putting on my shoes she jumped on my back hugging me and telling me she loved me. … As a father, I beg you, please if you have seen her, notify authorities. Don’t just be a bystander. Imagine if this was your daughter.”
