FLAGLER COUNTY, Fla. – A teenager, aged 15, is set to be prosecuted as an adult following his arrest related to the alleged abduction of a missing child by a known sex offender in Flagler County, as reported by the sheriff’s department.

Junior Bishop is now facing multiple charges including aggravated battery against a law enforcement officer, high-speed fleeing, grand theft auto, reckless driving, operating a vehicle without a license, and three counts of resisting arrest without violence, according to a release from the Flagler County Sheriff’s Office.

The arrest occurred on December 31, 2025, when Bishop attempted to escape a traffic stop where deputies detained 60-year-old Darnell Hairston, a registered sex offender from Hastings, stated the sheriff’s office.

Authorities discovered Bishop alongside an 11-year-old boy, who had been reported missing three days prior in St. Johns County, in Hairston’s vehicle during the stop on U.S. Highway 1, the sheriff’s department detailed.

Following the incident, investigators conducted an interview with the younger boy after he received medical attention at a nearby hospital.

During the interview, the child stated he had been lured to a wooded campsite in Flagler Estates where Hairston choked him until he lost consciousness. After regaining consciousness, the child told detectives he was threatened with a knife and a firearm, tied up with shoelaces and an extension cord, and had duct tape placed over his mouth. The child also told detectives that Hairston held him at the campsite for multiple days and made him travel on the floorboard of his truck covered by a blanket.

Flagler County Sheriff’s Office

Hairston faces charges of resisting arrest with violence, obstruction, kidnapping, aggravated child abuse and battery, records show.

Bishop is charged in part with stealing Hairston’s truck during that arrest, the sheriff’s office said, adding “Bishop’s involvement in the kidnapping as a possible co-conspirator is still under investigation.” He was taken to the Volusia County Branch Jail after his first appearance in court Friday morning and is being held on a $133,000 bond.

“This kid was already on probation for a violent offense when he committed these new felony crimes,” Sheriff Rick Staly said in a statement. “I commend and support our State Attorney for charging Bishop as an adult because of the seriousness of his crimes. Frankly, if you commit serious adult felonies as a juvenile, especially when you are already on probation, you should expect to be held accountable as an adult. This is especially true when your actions could have seriously injured a deputy sheriff.”

[MORE: 911 call released in chaotic arrest of man found with missing boy in Flagler]