NEWBERRY — The Newberry County Sheriff’s Office and Newberry Police Department responded Saturday to Waffle House on S.C. 34 to help locate a possible kidnapping victim after getting a call from the Richmond County (Ga.) Sheriff’s Office.
Officers and deputies found a 12-year-old girl inside the restaurant eating with two adult females and an 11-year-old child.
The preliminary investigation revealed that the two juveniles had met on a YouTube Channel and had been conversing for approximately a year through that social media site along with Skype.
The Georgia girl convinced the younger girl and her mother that it was permissible for them to come to Georgia and take her back to their home in Wisconsin to live.
The 12-year-old arranged the meeting to travel back to Wisconsin and made it to Newberry County.
The Newberry County Sheriff’s Office and investigators from Richmond County, Ga., are continuing the investigation to verify stories. It is currently being handled as a runaway situation.
Sheriff Lee Foster said this incident is a prime example of how the internet can be used improperly and unsafely.
“If their stories hold true, neither party really knew the other until they came into physical contact with one another. It very well could have been an adult that wished to do them harm,” Foster said. “This could have been a very dangerous situation.
“The internet is a very dangerous place. Anyone can pose as anybody and can say what they want,” he added. “Just because it is on the internet, it doesn’t have to be true. Regardless of the situation, the adults should have done a whole lot more to verify the juveniles story.”