Two men accused in the kidnapping of a 15-year-old girl from Harnett County, sparking a statewide Amber Alert, appeared in court Friday morning.
Authorities said Elihue Martin Mahler, 31, of Virginia Beach, Virginia, and Austyn Lee Cole, 23, of Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, planned to take the teen for sex after talking with her online.
"Wherever children are on the internet, predators will find them on the internet," Harnett County officials said.
Mahler is accused of talking with the teen online, despite knowing she was a minor, and planning to take her to Cole.
The state alleges Mahler drove from Virgina to pick the teen up and traveled back to Virginia with her. Prosecutors said Mahler planned to hand the teen off to Cole in Kitty Hawk, N.C., but there was a delay in transfer. That's when police rescued the teen, officials said.
Related article: Two men charged with human trafficking, kidnapping after missing teen found in N.C.
An Amber Alert was issued for the teen Wednesday. She had been missing since Tuesday and was found Thursday.
Mahler and Cole are facing charges, including first-degree kidnapping, felony conspiracy of kidnapping, felony conspiracy of human trafficking and kidnapping.
The teen appeared to be uninjured when found, the Harnett County sheriff said.
Spectrum News 1 is not naming her since she has been found.
The State Bureau of Investigation, the FBI and local police departments were involved in the investigation.
The teenager's mother told authorities she had last seen her daughter around 6 a.m. Tuesday at a home in Spring Lake, the sheriff's office said.
Bond for each suspect was set at $5 million, and the two men are expected to appear in court again March 11.
Authorities ask anyone with information to call 911, or the Harnett County Sheriff's Office at 910-893-9111.
A seperate, but similar, incident unfolded involving a 15-year-old Siler City teenager this week. Ronny Suarez, 23, and the 15-year-old girl were found in Asheboro, and another suspect, Saul Ramirez Guvara, was found at a hotel in Kinston, the N.C. State Bureau of Investigation said in a news release Friday afternoon.
The two men have been arrested and charged with kidnapping in the disappearance of the teen that prompted an Amber Alert on Thursday, but ended that evening when she was found safe.
