The property where the victim and Jorge Ivan Santos Camacho, inset. (Davidson County Sheriff’s Office mugshot; Screenshot from ABC Dallas affiliate WFAA)
A 34-year-old man who groomed a 13-year-old girl online, drove to the Dallas, Texas, area, kidnapped the victim, raped her, and brought her to a North Carolina property where he locked her in a shed has been sentenced to 20-29 years in prison.
Jorge Ivan Santos Camacho was sentenced on July 17 after pleading guilty to felony first-degree kidnapping, felony statutory rape and a statutory sex offense of a child under 15, Davidson & Davie County District Attorney Garry Frank said. He was also ordered to pay $600 in restitution and court costs and must register as a sex offender for 30 years.
Camacho entered an Alford plea — functionally equivalent to a guilty plea, but allowing him to maintain a claim of innocence while conceding the state has sufficient evidence to convict him at trial.
His defense attorney Corey Buggs declined to comment.
As Law&Crime previously reported, the case came to light on March 10 when a Special Agent with the Texas FBI’s Violent Crime Task Force contacted the Davidson County Sheriff’s Office about a missing 13-year-old girl.
With the FBI’s assistance, the Dallas Police Department — investigating a missing juvenile — discovered the child had been communicating with a man through a social media chat, the Davidson County Sheriff’s Office said.
“The content of the chat was consistent with grooming and enticement,” officials said.
Camacho was caught on video outside the victim’s home in a car registered to the Lexington, North Carolina, property, where he allegedly locked the victim in a shed, officials said.
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Authorities conducted a traffic stop on the registered owner leaving the registered address. They determined the juvenile was locked in an outbuilding at 10438 Linwood Southmont Road in Lexington.
After Camacho’s arrest, deputies rescued the girl and returned her to her home in Texas.
The girl’s mother told ABC Dallas affiliate WFAA that the victim and suspect had communicated for months online while playing a video game and chatting on Discord.
The mother told the station that she knew right away something was wrong when her daughter couldn’t be found.
“Heartbroken. Very scared for her life,” she said. “We’re hopeful to see her again, and thank God that was the case. My mind ran with all types of, ‘God, where is she?’
She said she ran through the risks of online chatting with her daughter.
“You know the risks, which we did talk a lot with her, but you know this happened,” she said. “It was something awful.”
Law&Crime’s Matt Naham contributed to this report.
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