A 14-year-old girl reported missing from Cromwell Drive in Spartanburg County on Friday has been found safe in New York, where deputies say a 22-year-old man from Long Island is now facing a kidnapping charge. The Spartanburg County Sheriff's Office responded to the Cromwell Drive address on Friday after receiving the report, and investigators say the man was in the area around the time the teen disappeared.
According to WYFF, family members and friends told deputies the juvenile had been talking to someone who claimed to be from New York. Investigators later identified that person as Ceasar Daniel Palacios-Escalon, 22, of Long Island, New York, and deputies obtained an arrest warrant charging him with kidnapping. The station reports that New York State Police and investigators located Palacios-Escalon and the missing teen in New York at approximately 1 a.m. on Saturday, September 12, 2026, as he was reportedly traveling toward his residence.
New York officials arrested Palacios-Escalon after investigators located him and the missing teen in New York at approximately 1 a.m. on Saturday, September 12, 2026, and he is now being held in New York, where he also faces other local charges, per the same report. Authorities placed the teen into protective custody following her recovery. The outlet's article, written by digital content producer Chloe McCoy, notes that authorities said they would release no additional information at this time, and the investigation remains active.
What South Carolina and Federal Law Say About the Charge
Under South Carolina Code § 16-3-910, kidnapping is classified as a felony punishable by up to 30 years in prison, according to Justia Law, which defines the offense as unlawfully seizing, confining, inveigling, or decoying any person without legal authority. The available reports do not establish whether federal prosecutors could evaluate the case under 18 U.S. Code § 1201, the Federal Kidnapping Act. South Carolina law also allows for conspiracy charges under S.C. Code § 16-3-920, which carries the same 30-year maximum if investigators find that an overt act was taken toward an abduction plan, even if the plan wasn't completed, according to the Strom Law Firm.
A Complicated Path Back to South Carolina
Bringing Palacios-Escalon back to South Carolina to face the kidnapping warrant could involve an interstate extradition process, since South Carolina is one of only two states, along with Missouri, that have not adopted the Uniform Criminal Extradition Act. South Carolina's nonadoption of the Uniform Criminal Extradition Act does not by itself show that returning Ceasar Daniel Palacios-Escalon would involve an unusually complex interstate extradition process, according to FindLaw. The applicable extradition process will determine the steps required before any transfer to South Carolina.
A Broader Pattern of Online Enticement
The case highlights concerns about minors being contacted online before in-person meetings. The article provides no additional details about whether contact moved into private messaging or encrypted apps.
Local Agency Facing Its Own Turmoil
The Spartanburg County Sheriff's Office, which responded to the kidnapping report and obtained the arrest warrant, has faced its own leadership upheaval recently. Former Sheriff Chuck Wright resigned earlier in 2025 before agreeing to plead guilty to conspiracy to commit theft concerning federal funds, conspiracy to commit wire fraud, and obtaining controlled substances through misrepresentation, according to Police1. This is not the only case involving alleged interstate luring that Spartanburg authorities have handled recently — in May, federal prosecutors indicted three Upstate South Carolina residents in a separate interstate luring and kidnapping plot that crossed state lines between North Carolina and Spartanburg, as Hoodline reported in its coverage of the Harrah's casino luring case. Separately, Spartanburg police issued a public alert this week for a different missing local teen, 17-year-old Paris Reed, last seen on Woodview Avenue, in an unrelated case Hoodline also covered.
Authorities have not released additional details about how the teen and Palacios-Escalon first communicated, and the investigation into the Cromwell Drive case remains active.
