A Missouri man has been arrested charged with kidnapping and interfering with child custody, Polk County deputies said.
John Rush, 44, of Missouri, was taken into custody in Kentucky, after surveillance video spotted him driving away with a 16-year-old girl from her home in Polk County.
On Thursday, the teen’s mother reported that her daughter had run away from home.
Detectives were able to identify several people with whom the girl had communicated via cell phone. She was also communicating via email, texting, the Internet and other messaging applications. The teen had been communicating with Rush via cell phone and detectives found evidence that Rush planned on picking her up on May 28 and taking her back to his home in Missouri.
Around 7:00 a.m. yesterday, Rush’s vehicle was stopped heading westbound on Interstate 24 in McCracken County, Kentucky, by the McCracken County Sheriff’s Office. The teen was found safe with several bags of clothing inside the vehicle. A box containing several sex toys was found in the car.
Rush confirmed to deputies he had been communicating with the 16-year-old girl for three weeks and was not planning on taking her back home, although he did plan to let her parents know she was okay.
Rush has been booked into the McCracken County Jail on one count of kidnapping by Kentucky State Police. He will be extradited to Polk County at a later date.
