U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents are being credited with thwarting a possible international kidnapping attempt.
A mother contacted the Stratford Police Department on Aug. 8 to report a possible kidnapping.
She said she had not seen her 12-year-old daughter in eight days and feared that the girl’s father had kidnapped her and taken her to Jamaica.
Police in Stratford and Hartford worked together with U.S. Customs agents in Hartford and Charlotte, and Joseph Virgo, 36, a United States citizen living in Meriden, was apprehended at the Charlotte Douglas International Airport as he was returning to the United States from Jamaica, officials said.
The girl’s mother is her legal guardian, according to authorities.
While in a secondary screening area, Virgo provided authorities with information on the girl’s whereabouts and she was located with relatives in Bridgeport.
Virgo was turned over to the Charlotte-Mecklinburg Police Department and is due to appear in court Area 2 in Bridgeport on Aug. 14.
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The girl was not hurt and was reunited with her mother on Aug. 9.
