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FLAGLER COUNTY, Fla. (BFMG) — Days after a registered sex offender was found with a missing child during what deputies called a “chaotic traffic stop,” the Flagler County Sheriff’s Office has released new details about the incident that unfolded along U.S. Highway 1.
On Tuesday, deputies stopped a pickup truck after a caller reported suspicious activity, according to the sheriff’s office. The driver — identified as 60-year-old Darnell Hairston of Hastings — was a registered sex offender. Inside the truck were Hairston and two juveniles.
Deputies said that while speaking with them, they discovered that one of the juveniles, an 11-year-old boy, had been reported missing three days earlier out of St. Johns County. The child told deputies he had been kidnapped, was not safe, and feared for his life if they had not intervened.
“The deputy quickly secured the child in the safety of their patrol vehicle and went to detain Hairston, but he tried to flee on foot,” the sheriff’s office said in a news release. Hairston was arrested shortly after for resisting an officer with violence and attempting to deprive a deputy of their firearm.
While deputies detained Hairston, the other juvenile — a 15-year-old from Hastings — got back into the truck and drove off, nearly striking a deputy, according to authorities. Deputies pursued the vehicle along U.S. 1 and State Road 100 until the suspect, identified as Bishop, rammed a patrol car, causing both vehicles to crash into a wooded area. The truck rolled over before Bishop was taken into custody.
He now faces charges of aggravated fleeing, aggravated battery on a law enforcement officer, reckless driving, driving without a license, and resisting arrest without violence.
During a later interview, the missing child told investigators that he had been lured to a wooded campsite in Flagler Estates, where Hairston choked him until he lost consciousness, threatened him with a knife and firearm, and tied him up with shoelaces and an extension cord. Duct tape was also placed over his mouth. The child said he was held for several days and forced to travel hidden under a blanket on the truck’s floorboard.
Detectives later searched Hairston’s truck, his home in Hastings, and the Flagler Estates campsite. They reported finding duct tape, video surveillance equipment, and weapons consistent with the child’s story.
Investigators said Hairston admitted to knowing the boy was missing and endangered but could not explain why he kept him from his parents.
On Friday, the sheriff’s office announced that Hairston was facing additional charges, including kidnapping, aggravated child abuse, battery by strangulation, and robbery with a deadly weapon. He is being held without bond.
“Clearly, thanks to ‘see something, say something’ and our deputies recognizing the victim was very afraid, we rescued a missing child who was in fear Hairston had planned to kill him,” said Sheriff Rick Staly. “Our team put in a tremendous amount of effort — working throughout the day, night, and into the early hours — to make sure this child was protected and this pervert was held accountable.”
According to the sheriff’s office, Hairston had previously served part of a 12-year sentence for three counts of false imprisonment but was released after five years in 2009. His criminal history includes arrests for aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, sexual battery, burglary with assault, and lewd or lascivious offenses involving a child.
“This was a very suspicious incident that is still under investigation,” Staly said. “I am thankful that nobody was seriously hurt and that we were able to recover a missing child from this pervert’s grasp. I don’t understand why a pervert who was sentenced to 12 years in prison was released after only five.”
Deputies said Bishop may have acted as a co-conspirator in the abduction and is now facing a grand theft of a motor vehicle charge. He remains in the custody of the Florida Department of Juvenile Justice.
The investigation is ongoing.
