Calif. (KGET) — A man accused of kidnapping a 10-year-old Taft girl after meeting on the gaming site “Roblox” is answering to charges
Kern County Sheriff’s deputies revealed how they methodically traced the little girl’s phone and her Roblox account to find her and her alleged kidnapper
Roblox is a gaming site marketed towards children, but the platform has a history of not protecting children. And now, it has hit right here at home, in Kern County
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Matthew Naval, 29, is accused of kidnapping with intent to commit sex acts with the 10-year-old girl
His preliminary hearing was held Thursday to determine if there was enough evidence to go forward with the case
Four sheriff’s deputies were called to the stand and described the desperate family who discovered their daughter had disappeared from her grandmother’s Taft home in the middle of the night
The girl’s father works night shift, and left his daughter in the care of her grandmother
Deputies were told by her father he had punished her just a day earlier for talking to older men online
Deputies discovered her phone was connected to a “Matthew’s iPhone” in Elk Grove, about four hours from Bakersfield
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Law enforcement was able to get access to the girl’s Roblox account and connected the iPhone to an account on the girl’s friends list called “thematt3798.”
After getting the data from Roblox, deputies discovered Naval’s name, and connected his name to his car through DMV records
Elk Grove Police found Naval, arrested him, and rescued the little girl
The girl and Naval told a senior deputy different stories
She said they were friends, and one day she sent him her address and he showed up, surprisingly
She thought they were going for a quick car ride, but she brought her backpack filled with clothes and her pet bird
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She said Naval kissed her and put his tongue in her mouth, which she described as “gross.”
The deputy testified Naval tried to get a hotel room twice, but couldn’t
The deputy stated if Naval had, and the girl was willing he would have slept with her
Naval told deputies for the months they were messaging and voice chatting online, she told him she was 18
Some of the messages were sexual in nature
When Naval picked her up, he told deputies he asked her to show an ID, because she looked underage
Naval told deputies the girl said she lost her ID, and he “took her at her word.”
Naval is being held on counts on kidnapping to commit sex acts, and two counts of lewd or lascivious acts with a child
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