11-year-old girl arrested for falsely reporting her friend was kidnapped, deputies say
By WESH Staff
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PORT ORANGE, Florida (WESH) — An 11-year-old child was arrested by Volusia County sheriff’s deputies for allegedly making a false report that her friend was kidnapped.
According to the Volusia County Sheriff’s Office, the Port Orange girl texted 911 Wednesday morning that a man driving a white van on Interstate 95 South in Oak Hill abducted her friend. She also texted updates, including a suspect description and that he had a gun.
Deputies, along with Edgewater, New Smyrna Beach, and Port Orange police, searched high and low for the supposed kidnapper’s van, but they did not find it. So they tracked down the cell phone used to make the report.
Deputies got to the girl’s home as dispatch continued to call her until she walked out to speak with deputies. She told deputies the whole thing was a prank through a YouTube challenge. She said she thought “it would be funny.”
“This kind of prank activity is dangerous – we’re going to investigate every incident, but today it wasted valuable resources that might have helped someone else who legitimately needed our help,” Sheriff Mike Chitwood said.
The girl is charged with making a false police report involving the use of a firearm in a violent manner which is a felony, and misuse of 911, which is a misdemeanor.
She will be held in juvenile detention.
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