A missing Texas teen was found in Florida last week after investigators tracked her to a vacation rental home where an armed felon was holding her against her will, authorities said Monday.
Vincent Joseph Robusto, a 38-year-old convicted felon out of Georgia, was arrested Friday in Port Charlotte, the Charlotte County Sheriff’s Office said.
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The 15-year-old girl from Dilley, Texas, had told her parents she was going to an all-inclusive church retreat in Florida. When the girl did not call for several days, her parents contacted local police.
Police pinged her cell phone to an address in Port Charlotte, Fla., and alerted Charlotte County deputies, the sheriff’s office said.
When deputies arrived at the address and knocked on the door, they spotted a man running into a back room. He refused to open the door or acknowledge the officers’ presence, according to authorities.
Deputies were able to contact the owner of the rental home, who persuaded Robusto to come to the front door with the teen. Robusto was then taken into custody and a later search of the resident turned up eight rounds of ammunition inside a magazine of a semi-automatic handgun.
Investigators learned from the teen that she had tried to open the door but that Robusto had held her back and told her to stay quiet, the sheriff’s office said.
The girl told deputies that she had exited a plane in Fort Myers and walked down a street, where she was met by Robusto. He took her back to the rental home, where they had dinner and he gave the teen a vape pen with an unknown substance.
During the investigation, deputies contacted the church camp that the teen had told her parents she was attending. Deputies learned the teen was not registered for the camp and had never attended the church.
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The teen’s friends told investigators that she had been communicating with an older man on social media apps. She has since been reunited with her parents in Texas.
Meanwhile, Robusto faces a slew of charges, including false imprisonment of a person against their will, interference with custody of minor, possession of firearm ammunition or weapon by us convicted felon, drug paraphernalia — delivery to minor, and possession of firearm ammunition or weapon by us convicted felon.
He was being held at the Charlotte County Jail on $325,000 bond.