ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. — State agents said they busted a registered sex offender selling a teenager for sex, but now he’s back on the streets and the teen is missing again.
Michael Ashford is out on his own recognizance, and the missing teen’s mother, who Channel 9 is not identifying due to the sensitivity of her daughter's situation, fears her daughter is back with the man.
Ashford has been accused of sex trafficking the teenager and others.
It’s been 15 days since the teenager disappeared from Edgewater High School.
The teenager was enrolled in a diversion program after authorities identified her as a victim of sex trafficking.
Surveillance video from the high school shows the teenager walked in at 3:11 p.m., on Oct. 11, and walked out at 3:15 p.m.
“That was the last time that anybody that I know and her friends have seen her,” said the mother. “Her little brother is stressed out with headaches because he doesn’t know where his big sister is.”
The mother said she’s been living a nightmare since last year, when her daughter met Ashford.
A police report details her daughter’s encounter with Ashford near her school.
The 14-year-old and Ashford exchanged phone numbers and began talking over the social media app, Kik, the report said.
“We’ve taken the cellphone and they still found ways to communicate with each other,” said the mother.
MBI agents found the teenager during a human trafficking investigation in July, months after the teenager disappeared.
Ashford was arrested on charges of kidnapping, sexual assault and living off the earning of a prostitute, but the state did not file those charges.
After 33 days in jail, the court had to order an “automatic release on his own recognizance,” meaning Ashford walked free.
One month after his release, the teenager disappeared again.
Her mother believes she’s back with Ashford, and although he’s on the sex offender registry, she can’t find out where he lives.
“His address keeps saying transient,” she said.
Ashford is listed as a transient sex offender and his address is listed as the intersection of Oak Ridge Road and Orange Blossom Trail.
“He’s free to do what he wants. He’s free to drive around in his fancy car, like he’s a book author,” said the mother.
The woman last spoke to her daughter on Kik on Saturday, using her daughter’s friend’s account.
“I got this really horrible provocative picture,” she said.
Ashford is not wanted or charged with a crime.
Cox Media Group
