Hillsboro Police: Missing Ohio girl found in El Paso

HILLSBORO — A Hillsboro girl missing since July 16 has been found in El Paso, Texas with a 28 year-old man from California with whom she’d been talking to, Hillsboro Police tell our news partners WCPO in Cincinnati.

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Police have not specified the girl’s age, referring to her as a, “missing/runaway female juvenile,” WCPO says.

The girl was last seen in the early morning hours of July 16 and had been talking with a man from California who called himself, “Roman,” Hillsboro police tell WCPO.

The male suspect, identified as 28-year-old Alex Roman Nguyen, had traveled from California during the week of July 7 and attended Festival of the Bells, an annual Fourth of July festival in Hillsboro, with the girl, WCPO reports. After the girl went missing, an address for Nguyen was found during a search of her bedroom that led police to San Diego where they discovered Nguyen was the suspect.

Hillsboro police contacted the F.B.I. when they learned through online and cellular tracking that Nguyen took the girl across state lines outside of Ohio and with the F.B.I.’s assistance, Nguyen and the girl were apprehended in El Paso, according to WCPO.

The girl was found safe and will be transported back to Hillsboro, WCPO reports. Nguyen will face federal charges and the investigation will be handled by federal authorities.

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