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Florida Runaway Found Hiding in Registered Sex Offender’s Closet

A tip from Orange County prompted a search rooted in a registration violation.

Overview

  • Detectives, who went to the Dundee home Monday after a lead from Orange County deputies, found the 17-year-old hiding in a bedroom closet.
  • At the door, Alexis Diaz-Toledo, 30, denied knowing her whereabouts and initially refused to let investigators enter.
  • Detectives determined he had failed to report two vehicles as required under Florida’s sex offender registry, which cleared the way for a search of the home.
  • Diaz-Toledo remains in custody without bond as of Wednesday and faces two counts of failing to comply with registration rules, interfering with custody of a minor, sheltering a minor without notifying a parent, and providing false information in a missing person case.
  • The teen was returned to her family, and Diaz-Toledo has been on the registry since a 2014 conviction for lewd and lascivious battery, with investigators still not saying how she ended up at his residence.