POLK COUNTY, Fla. – A missing Orange County teenager is back with her family today after Polk County deputies discovered her hiding in a bedroom closet belonging to a registered sex offender.
The discovery led to the immediate arrest of 30-year-old Alexis Diaz-Toledo at his residence in Dundee on Monday, April 13, 2026.
The investigation began when the Orange County Sheriff’s Office reached out to Polk County authorities with a lead suggesting the runaway 17-year-old was staying with a man in the Dundee area. When detectives arrived at Diaz-Toledo’s home to check on the girl’s welfare, the situation was initially met with resistance.
Diaz-Toledo told investigators he hadn’t seen the teenager in days and claimed he had no idea where she was. He initially refused to let the detectives enter or search the property.
While standing at the scene, detectives noted that Diaz-Toledo was already out of compliance with his legal requirements as a sex offender.
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Specifically, they found two vehicles at the home that had not been reported to the state registry as required by law. Diaz-Toledo has been a registered offender since a 2014 conviction for lewd and lascivious battery on a victim between the ages of 12 and 15.
Once detectives gained entry to the home and conducted a search, they found the missing girl concealed inside the closet of Diaz-Toledo’s bedroom. She was recovered safely and has since been returned to her home in Orange County.
Diaz-Toledo was taken into custody and transported to the Sheriff’s Processing Center.
He faces multiple felony and misdemeanor charges, including two counts of failing to comply with sex offender registration requirements, interfering with the custody of a minor, sheltering a minor without notifying a parent, and providing false information to law enforcement during a missing person investigation.
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