‘Florida Men’ Arrested For Kidnapping Teens Turn Out To Be Illegal Immigrants

Two undocumented immigrants are facing kidnapping charges after authorities discovered them in Florida with two missing teenage girls from North Carolina.

The Clayton County Police Department said the 14- and 15-year-old girls were found unharmed and have since been reunited with their parents, Fox Orlando reported. The investigation began May 3 when officers responded to a report from concerned parents who said their daughters disappeared overnight.

The teens were last seen at 1 a.m. Investigators said the girls left a note. The note said they had gone off with “some guys they met.” Police said the girls left voluntarily and were not forcibly taken. Neither had a cellphone at the time.

Authorities quickly identified two suspects, 22-year-old Edwin Alberto Cardenas and 18-year-old Ericson Leonel Ullo-Flores, and issued arrest warrants the following day. Officers traveled to Daytona Beach, Fla., where they found the men along with the missing girls and took them into custody.

Cardenas and Ullo-Flores were booked into the Volusia County Jail on May 5 and are being held without bond. Both men have been flagged with immigration holds, and additional charges are expected. They will be extradited to North Carolina to face kidnapping charges.

This isn’t the first time undocumented migrants have been accused of committing crimes. It was previously reported that illegal immigrants looted freight trains across California and Arizona at least 10 times between March 2024 and January 2025, stealing Nike sneakers valued at more than $2 million.

Border czar Tom Homan praised the 139,000 deportations carried out since President Donald Trump began his second term on Jan. 20, calling the effort a success. Border encounters fell to their lowest levels since the 1960s, just one month into Trump’s second term.