Man accused of attempting to abduct Warsaw middle schooler he met on TikTok

A 21-year-old man was arrested on multiple felony charges recently after allegedly attempting to pick up a 14-year-old girl he met on TikTok from her school in Warsaw. 

According the probable cause affidavit, Marco Antonio Sanchez-Hernandez, 21, of South Bend is now facing charges after attempting to pick up a young teen from Edgewood Middle School in Warsaw on Sept. 26, with charges of attempted kidnapping, a Level 5 Felony; possession of child sexual assault material, a Level 6 Felony; and obstruction of justice, a Level 6 Felony.

Sanchez-Hernandez had claimed to be a family member while attempting to check out the student early. Staff soon discovered Sanchez-Hernandez was not authorized. After the student's parents were contacted it was discovered that the parents also did not know the man. Sanchez-Hernandez told the school resource officer he thought the student was 15 and claimed to know the student from around town. 

When the SRO talked to the student, however, she revealed she had first started talking to Sanchez-Hernandez through the social media app TikTok on Sept. 25. The student claimed she had thought Sanchez-Hernandez was 18 years old and that the two had not been romantic with each other. The student's phone was given to the SRO, who was unable to immediately review the messages due to them all being in Spanish. Sanchez-Hernandez was released while the situation was being investigated. The next day the student's phone was turned over to police for analysis. 

Shortly after two officers from the Warsaw Police Department drove to Rochester attempting to locate Sanchez-Hernandez and eventually connected with him at the Rochester Police Department. Sanchez-Hernandez agreed to be interviewed in Warsaw and also turned in his phone for analysis. Sanchez-Hernandez admitted to being 21 during an interview with investigators and stated he thought the student was 15. He also admitted to attempting to remove the student from school that day by deceitfully claiming to be her uncle, but stated the student had given him the address to the school to do so. 

Officers reported most messages between the student and Sanchez-Hernandez had been deleted and discovered one message from Sanchez-Hernandez to the student requesting to delete all messages from social media so they did not get in trouble. Sanchez-Hernandez's call history showed two missed outgoing calls to the student from his phone. Messages between the student and Sanchez-Hernandez on instagram eventually revealed a thread where the student refered to Sanchez-Hernandez as Anthony and planned arrangements to pick up the student from school on Sept. 26.

After reviewing Sanchez-Hernandez’s image history detectives located several child sexual assault material, including multiple images of a nude female child. Officers attempted to identify the child in the images possessed by Sanchez-Hernandez.

“Due to the multiple layers of established school safety protocols, the individual was not able to gain access to students and most importantly students were not in danger. The Warsaw Police Department investigators, in collaboration with school resource officers, questioned the male subject, identified as Marco Antonio Sanchez-Hernandez, who was subsequently detained and charged with attempted kidnapping and other related offenses. Additional charges are currently under active investigation, and no further comment will be provided at this time. We are thankful for the strong partnership between Warsaw Community Schools, school resource officers and local law enforcement," the Warsaw Police Department and Warsaw Community Schools said in a recent joint statement. 

Sanchez-Hernandez was booked into the Kosciusko County Jail Sept. 30 on a preliminary bond of $5,250, which was later increased to $101,000 when his charges were modified. His initial hearing is scheduled with Kosciusko Circuit Court on Oct. 9.