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TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA) — The man who allegedly abducted a Hillsborough County teen met her through one of the top social networking apps, according to an arrest report from the Broward Sheriff’s Office.
According to the sheriff’s office, 38-year-old Edward Rodriguez connected with a 13-year-old girl from Plant City through Discord, a free social networking app marketed as a place for gamers to build communities.
The app, which allows users to send messages through text chats and participate in voice and video calls, is the 7th-ranked free social networking app on the Apple App Store and has more than 100 million downloads on the Google Play Store.
The Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office said the teen girl was reported missing on Saturday after she left her home without permission sometime between 1 a.m. and 3 a.m.
The arrest report said Rodriguez drove to pick the girl up and drove her back to his apartment in Cooper City, more than four hours away from her home.