A registered sex offender from Hastings allegedly lured an 11-year-old boy to a wooded campsite in Flagler Estates, choked him until he lost consciousness, and held him captive for three days, according to the Flagler County Sheriff’s Office.
Deputies rescued the missing child after a caller reported that they had seen Darnell Hairston, 60, who they knew to be a registered sex offender, traveling with two juvenile passengers on Wednesday, Dec. 31. The caller also said one of the children was reported missing in St. Johns County.
Deputies arrested Hairston after a traffic stop, also on Wednesday, on U.S. 1 near Whiteview Drive. The 11-year-old boy told a deputy he had been kidnapped, was not safe, and believed he would be killed if deputies did not intervene. He was “clearly traumatized and in fear,” the Flagler Sheriff’s Office reported.
Sex offender attempts to flee traffic stop in Flagler County
Hairston tried to flee on foot from the traffic stop and was arrested for resisting an officer with violence and attempting to deprive a law enforcement officer of their firearm. Following Hairston’s arrest, deputies confirmed the juvenile had been reported missing three days earlier and he was transported to a local hospital for medical treatment.
More charges were filed against Hairston on Friday, Jan. 2, including kidnapping, aggravated child abuse, battery by strangulation, and robbery with a deadly weapon. On Saturday, he was being held in the Sheriff Perry Hall Inmate Detention Facility without bond.
The child told detectives that he was threatened with a knife and a firearm, tied up with shoelaces and an extension cord, and had duct tape placed over his mouth. The child also said Hairston made him travel on the floorboard of his truck, covered by a blanket.
Juvenile, 15, may have been a co-conspirator in kidnapping
While deputies were arresting Hairston, the other juvenile, 15, also of Hastings, entered Hairston’s truck and fled, nearly hitting a deputy in the roadway. Deputies pursued the teen southbound along U.S. 1, then westbound along State Road 100.
The boy “purposely rammed into the deputy’s patrol vehicle, causing both vehicles to crash into the wood line and the boy’s vehicle to roll over.”
He was arrested for aggravated fleeing and eluding, aggravated battery on a law enforcement officer, reckless driving, driving without a license, and resisting an officer without violence.
The News-Journal is not naming him because he’s a juvenile.
During the vehicle apprehension, a second deputy lost control of his patrol vehicle and struck an automotive repair building in Bunnell.
Two deputies received minor injuries during the incident. Both were treated at AdventHealth Palm Coast and released. The 15-year-old was evaluated by medical personnel. He was not injured.
Hairston is a registered sexual offender and was released from the Florida Department of Corrections in 2009, where he had been serving a 12-year sentence for three counts of false imprisonment, according to the Flagler Sheriff’s Office.
He has a lengthy arrest history, including previous arrests for aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, burglary with assault or battery, cruelty toward his wife, disorderly intoxication, lewd or lascivious offenses committed upon a child, property damage, and sexual battery.
Sheriff Rick Staly said on Facebook: “I also do not understand why a pervert who was sentenced to 12 years in prison in 2004 was released after only five years in 2009. Clearly, he has not learned anything!”
This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: Sex offender charged with kidnapping 11-year-old boy in Flagler County
Reporting by John Dunbar, Daytona Beach News-Journal / The Daytona Beach News-Journal
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