BATON ROUGE — The man accused of kidnapping a 17-year-old Zachary girl found in Oklahoma Tuesday has been booked into East Baton Rouge Parish Prison, jail records show.
Michael Jay, 37, of London, Kentucky, was booked with simple kidnapping, indecent behavior with a juvenile and contributing to the delinquency of a juvenile. He is being held without bond, jail records show.
Jay was arrested in Ardmore, Oklahoma, on Tuesday night after Zachary detectives tracked her to a truck stop there, Zachary Police Chief Darryl Lawrence said Wednesday.
MORE: Zachary Police Chief warns parents
Lawrence said the girl was communicating on social media with someone she thought was her own age and asked for a ride to Mississippi. He said Jay, a truck driver, got her in his truck and took her to Oklahoma.
Lawrence said Oklahoma authorities “dropped what they were doing” and went to the truck stop gas station as soon as Zachary investigators alerted them that she might be there.
He said the case is an important reminder for parents to carefully monitor their children’s social media, and all online, activity. The girl didn’t realize she was talking online to a much older man, he said.
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