Jorge Garzon, 42-year-old man, has been arrested for harboring Allie Loftis, a runaway 13-year-old girl from Massachusetts, at his New Jersey home Wednesday.
Alexandra “Allie” Loftis vanished from her Boston home for nearly two weeks after boarding a bus headed to New York City on November 4th, sending her parents on a relentless hunt to get their daughter back.
Allie Loftis was located at Jorge Garzon’s Jersey City residence and taken into police custody around 9:00 a.m. Wednesday, after police say they received a tip off.
Jorge Garzon, who also goes by the name George Gonzalez, was arrested just over an hour after her recovery at the New Jersey address.
Affirming Allie Loftis father’s fear, the two are believed to have met online, a sources close to the investigation told NJ.com.
Allie Loftis’ family had searched long and hard for their daughter, never giving up hope, with their efforts rippling throughout the New York area to local police stations, city streets and across social media sites showing a number of various fliers.
Believing she had run away independently, her parents posted numerous messages to her on Facebook, as well as pictures of them together, imploring her to come home.
Allie Loftis’ father admitted that before her disappearance she seemed unhappy in school, but thought it was just a rough patch.
“I live in semi-rural community where it’s peaceful and quiet, and she wanted big city, bright lights,” Tony Loftis said.
“She wanted to go to school in a different area. As she said, where we live is boring.”
Pleading, in hope that she may see their efforts and pain online, the family devoted a Facebook site to their missing daughter, posting a flood of photos of them together.
“One of many trips to get ice cream w dad,” her father wrote above one picture of the two of them together.
“I luv u honey, pls let us know u r ok,” Tony Loftis wrote.
Following their daughter’s trail the family traveled to New York City, chasing any and all leads of their daughter.
Every location they thought she might go – from the Barnes and Noble in Park Slope Brooklyn to Prospect Park, both locations her father said he knew Allie Loftis loved – they handed out fliers and recruited volunteers.
And with him having family in Brooklyn, Tony Loftis hoped it’s where she would be.
“Whenever I’m focused on trying to find her, I’m okay. But, whenever that stops, and I’m home at night, and I wake up in the morning, and I think, you know, I … I … I … it’s hard,” Tony Loftis told CBS Boston.
“You know this is completely devas… you can’t … it’s my only daughter,” the father said.
Asking volunteers to take two Saturdays out of the next six to stand on street corners in matching T-shirts and fliers, the family’s plan was to “create a media event to help bring Allie home for the holidays”, her parents wrote in an email to volunteers, according to the Wayland Patch.
“We think the only way to put pressure on the person holding her, and to keep the leads coming, is to sustain media coverage,” the family wrote.
After their daughter disappeared, Tony Loftis says she never turned on her cell phone or went on Facebook, despite him describing her as tech savvy.
“We have left voice mail messages on her cell phone until it got filled up. We’ve tried every method we think possible but haven’t heard from her,” Tony Loftis told CBS after her disappearance.
That made it even more concerning for him, with his fear that Allie Loftis could have been held against her will.
Allie Loftis’ father did confess his believe that she may have met someone online.
Jorge Garzon, who Allie Loftis was found with, is currently being held in custody in the Hudson County Prosecutor’s Office pending charges which have yet to be filed.
The circumstances surrounding both Allie Loftis’ disappearance and the activities since she ran away are still under investigation, according to police.
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