A Florida man is in custody and two girls ages 11 and 15 are safe after Bulloch County Sheriff’s Office deputies made a traffic stop aided by the Flock Safety camera system that prevented a possible kidnapping.
According to a release from BCSO Capt. Todd Hutchens, the Sheriff’s Office received information Tuesday afternoon from the Georgia State Patrol regarding a possible kidnapping suspect traveling towards Bulloch County from the North Carolina area.
“After receiving the tag number associated with the suspect vehicle, deputies utilized the Flock Safety system to locate the vehicle,” Hutchens wrote in the release. “Road patrol deputies and investigators with the Bulloch County Sheriff’s Office subsequently conducted a traffic stop on Highway 67 near Josh Deal Road.”
Hutchens said all occupants of the vehicle were safely detained while investigators contacted detectives with the Yadkin County Sheriff’s Office and the China Grove Police Department, both in North Carolina.
Investigators were advised that the two girls were reported kidnapped and that the driver, Seth Tallmadge, 21, was the suspect in the investigation. Tallmadge was arrested on a kidnapping warrant from the Yadkin County Sheriff’s office and will be scheduled for an extradition hearing for his return to North Carolina, Hutchens said.
Tallmadge, who listed a Trenton, Fla., address, was taken into custody and transported to the Bulloch County Sheriff’s Office pending further proceedings. The 11- and 15-year-old were reunited with their parents.
“Tuesday afternoon, some reports started coming out of an abduction out of North Carolina, a kidnapping of 11-year-old and 15-year-old juvenile females,” Sheriff Noel Brown said at a Wednesday morning press conference at the Sheriff’s Office. “Information started trading hands between agencies, and thanks to our Flock Safety system, it was able to capture that tag number in different locations, resulting in a traffic stop at about 8 p.m. Tuesday evening on Highway 67.
“Without that technology, that may not have happened. Nobody will ever know how that may have ended up. It ended up in a safe manner with everybody being either back to where they needed to be and the subject being taken into custody.”
Asked about the suspect’s connection to the two girls at the press conference, Hutchens said: “(Tallmadge) had been having communication with one of these females to the point where, I guess, they thought they were in somewhat of a relationship.”
Hutchens said no local charges will be filed against Tallmadge.
“I would like to recognize the quick response and teamwork of the deputies and investigators involved in bringing this incident to a safe conclusion,” Sheriff Noel Brown said in the release. “This is the second time within a 24-hour period that Corporal Tanner White and his shift were involved in rescuing victims of a kidnapping incident.
“I also want to thank the Georgia State Patrol, Yadkin County Sheriff’s Office and China Grove Police Department for their assistance and coordination throughout the investigation