Deputies: Two Florida Girls, 12 and 14, Attempted to Travel to Louisiana to Meet Unknown Person

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is investigating a Thursday incident in which two Florida girls, 14 and 12, reportedly attempted to travel by car to Louisiana to meet an unknown person they met online.

CBS 4 reported Jade Gregory, 12, and Khloe Larsen, 14, drove westward Thursday morning toward a destination in Louisiana, reportedly to meet an unknown person they had met online. 

The girls reportedly turned themselves in in Mobile, Alabama, after coming across news coverage featuring their pictures at a local store, per CBS 4.

The Union County Sheriff’s Office had issued an alert the day before, indicating that the girls were believed to be “traveling west on I-10 in the Baton Rouge, Louisiana area” in a Ford Taurus owned by Gregory’s father and had last been seen “in the area of N.E. County Road 237 in Lake Butler, Florida.”

The sheriff’s office noted that no adult was believed to be accompanying the two minors, and law enforcement did not expect foul play to ensue.

In a subsequent post announcing that the girls had been located, the sheriff’s department said several agencies were involved in the investigation.

“Many thanks to the multiple agencies involved throughout Florida, Alabama and Louisiana to include the F.B.I. and FDLE,” the post read.

Citing deputies, CBS 4 reported the two girls were being held in a juvenile detention facility as of Friday and allegedly “not cooperating with law enforcement” but were expected to be released and then interviewed for the FBI-assisted investigation.

It has not been made public who may have been corresponding with the girls online, and it is unclear if this person deliberately induced the girls to travel to him or her, according to law enforcement.

“Whether or not they were trying to lure them out there … either way they were going out there to meet this person,” Chief Deputy Lyn Williams told the outlet. “The 12-year-old child went to pick up the 14-year-old child.”