MANATEE — Authorities have arrested a man they say posed as the parent of a 14-year-old girl while calling her in sick for school, according to a Manatee County Sheriff’s Office report.
A witness reported seeing Edgar Mendez, 36, with the girl in a car at the El Conquistador apartment complex, in the 5900 block of 36th Street West, and called deputies.
The girl’s parents were notified and went to Bayshore High School where the girl was supposed to be. The school told the parents a man called claiming to be the girl’s father and said she was sick, the sheriff’s report said.
Just before noon, while deputies were at Bayshore, the girl walked in with Mendez. Mendez denied taking the girl from the apartment complex. He was arrested on a charge of interference with child custody.
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