MOHAVE COUNTY, Ariz. — A 14-year-old Mohave County girl who was found in the basement of a Utah sex offender's home met him on TikTok, new court documents say.
The suspect, 26-year-old Jordan Sorenson, started commenting on the teenage girl's TikTok videos and then found her Snapchat account.
Records show Sorenson convinced the teen to give him her address by saying he would send her food through a delivery app and then said he was coming to Arizona from Utah to take her away.
Documents say the teen did not expect him to show up, but when he did, she said she did not feel safe and told officials Sorenson said if she left or stopped talking to him, "bad things would happen."
The 14-year-old girl had been wearing an ankle monitor which documents say Sorenson cut off before sexually assaulting her at a motel, ditched her cell phone, then drove her back to Utah where the alleged crimes would continue.
Mohave County officials tell 12News they tracked the ankle monitor to its last known location and reviewed nearby surveillance footage.
“That's how we saw her get into the vehicle with that man," said Sara Colbert of the Mohave County Probation Department. "We were able to track his license plate through there and that's how we found out who she was with.”
Officials worked with investigators in Utah and found the teen in Sorenson's basement. He is now being charged with rape and aggravated kidnapping.
“It could have been a much worse outcome," said Natalie Eggers with the Mohave County Probation Department. “We were fortunate in this case that it ended like it did.”
Mohave County officials regularly work to raise awareness about trafficking and attribute, in part, their focus on the problem to solving this case so quickly.
"A minor being a victim of trafficking really comes down to the exchange of anything of value for sex," Eggers said.
"That could be food, that could be a ride, that could be shelter, drugs, whatever that person is in need of. And so when you look at trafficking that way, you can see how it affects every community and how it's not just like the movie Taken when you think of someone being kidnapped and taken and sold across the seas. It happens here, and it happens often."
Colbert added: "With this juvenile, she was exchanging food, there was a cell phone, there was a place to stay. And unfortunately, one out of four juveniles who run away ended up trafficked it within the first 48 hours."
Sorenson was already a registered sex offender on probation stemming from a prior conviction. Sorenson previously took a 13-year-old girl from Wyoming to Colorado.
Phoenix company helps parents monitor kids' social media
It's cases like these that prompted Jacob DiMartino to create RAADR.
“The most important thing I think a parent can do is be vigilant," DiMartino said.
RAADR is a free app that allows parents to monitor their children's social media accounts for harmful key words that could signal anything from bullying to predatory behavior.
“Know what platforms your kids are on know what friend groups they have, who they're who they're engaging with," DiMartino said.
"It's hard to track it all. But that's where RAADR comes into play. That's where our app simplifies things and kind of breaks it down because most parents don't have the time to just scroll through their kids social media posts."
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