PORT ORANGE, Fla. (WFLA) — An 11-year-old Florida girl was arrested Wednesday after deputies said she falsely reported her friend’s kidnapping because she thought it “would be funny.”
The Volusia County Sheriff’s Office said the girl reported that her 14-year-old friend had been abducted by an armed man driving a white van. She said she was following them in a blue Jeep on Interstate 95 in Oak Hill.
“For the next hour and a half, the girl texted updates including a description of the male suspect and that he had a gun,” deputies said.
Investigators said they tracked the cell phone used to text 911 and were brought to a home in Port Orange.
When deputies got to the home on Poppy Lane, they said they called the girl’s father who told them his daughter was inside the home with her family.
When the girl was found, deputies said she had her cell phone in her hand and was receiving a call from Volusia Sheriff’s Dispatch, telling her that deputies were at the scene.
The girl then told deputies that she got the idea to prank 911 through a YouTube challenge and thought it “would be funny,” according to the sheriff’s office.
Sheriff Mike Chitwood said he was not amused.
“This kind of prank activity is dangerous – we’re going to investigate every incident but today it wasted valuable resources that might have helped someone else who legitimately needed our help,” Chitwood said in a statement.
Deputies said the 11-year-old was charged with making a false police report concerning the use of a firearm in a violent manner and misuse of 911.
She was taken to the Volusia Regional Juvenile Detention Center.