N.C. Man Was Pulled Over for Alleged Speeding. Inside His Car Was a Teen Girl Who’d Been Missing for a Month

YOU NEED TO KNOW

• North Carolina man stopped in Florida for speeding

• Police allege the sheriff’s deputy gave his passenger multiple fake names and dates of birth when asked for his passenger’s identity

• According to the police, the man named Joshua Magraff said that the duo came to Florida “to play gambling games.”

A North Carolina man was pulled over for speeding and a sheriff’s deputy found a teenage girl inside his car who had been missing for a month, authorities allege.

On Sunday, March 8, a deputy with the Putnam County Sheriff’s Office in Florida stopped a vehicle traveling at a high rate of speed on US 17 South near Crescent City. The sheriff’s office said in a statement on Facebook.

In body camera footage provided by the sheriff’s office, the driver identified himself as Joshua Magraff, 37, of Charlotte. When the deputy asks the identity of the young female passenger, Magraff says, “No sir, she is my little cousin” and says she is 16 years old.

When the deputy asked the passenger his name, he said, “Huh?” he said. several times before saying her name was Brandy Lewis.

He said he was born in 2013, which would make him only 12 years old.

The passenger then gave the deputy two more fake names and dates of birth, causing him to worry about her well-being, the statement says.

The deputy sat the girl in his patrol car and told her her real name.

“As a result of the search, it was determined that the young man was reported missing in North Carolina a month ago,” the statement said.

Authorities reached the teen’s mother, who said she did not know Magraff and reported her daughter missing on Feb. 16.

The deputy asked Magraff to get out of the car and asked him questions about his connection to the teen.

Magraff changed her story, saying she was a “friend” and not his cousin.

When the deputy asked Magraff how old he was, he told him he was 37.

“You are 37 years old and you are friends with a 16 year old girl?” asked MP Magraff.

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Magraff later told the deputy he thought the girl was 19 years old and that they had come to Florida “to play gambling games,” the statement said.

When deputies searched the vehicle, they allegedly found 19 counterfeit $100 bills, synthetic marijuana, marijuana and drug paraphernalia.

Deputies contacted the Department of Children and Families to gain custody of the teen until he could be reunited with his mother.

Magraff was arrested and charged with interference with child custody, possession of synthetic marijuana, possession of counterfeit currency, contributing to the delinquency of a minor and possession of drug paraphernalia.

He was taken to the Putnam County Jail and held on $9,000 bail.

The investigation continues.

It’s unclear whether Magraff has an attorney who can speak on his behalf.

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