California Highway Patrol officers rescued a 17-year-old girl who was bound and gagged in the back of a car, then investigators learned her father and sister had abducted her and were attempting to take her to a drug treatment facility in Mexico, authorities said Tuesday.
Dispatchers received a call around 7 p.m. Monday from a person who reported seeing the girl tied up in the back of a 2014 Toyota Corolla heading southbound on Interstate 5 near the Orange County border, CHP Officer Kevin Smale said.
CHP officers responded to the area and stopped the car around 7:20 p.m. near the Canon Road offramp, Smale said.
Investigators learned the girl's 67-year-old father and her 21-year-old sister, both from San Juan Capistrano, had abducted her and were attempting to take her to a drug treatment facility in Mexico, the officer said.
"The 17-year-old female admitted to using methamphetamine for the past year," Smale said, adding that the teen was taken into protective custody.
It was not immediately clear if the father and sister were taken into custody, but Smale said CHP officers consulted with investigators from the county prosecutor's office and "criminal charges are pending against the adult family members."
