Florida authorities have charged a 19-year-old Nebraska man who drove to Florida and allegedly kidnapped two sisters he first met through the online gaming platform Roblox and later communicated with via Snapchat.
The girls, ages 12 and 14, were reported missing from their home in Indiantown on Saturday, prompting a multi-state search involving local, state, and federal law enforcement agencies.
The following day, the Georgia Highway Patrol stopped a vehicle suspected of carrying the girls, who were unharmed. The driver, identified as Hser Mu Lah Say, was taken into custody.
Martin County Sheriff John Budensiek described the situation as potentially dangerous, noting that law enforcement had successfully prevented a tragedy.
“We’re dealing with a grown man who traveled from another state to take children he had never met,” Budensiek said. “We really don’t know what he intended to do.”
Authorities reported that Say drove approximately 1,500 miles from Nebraska to Florida in a continuous stretch of roughly 22 hours.
Surveillance footage, including images captured at convenience stores along the route, helped investigators track the vehicle.
Say has been charged with two counts of kidnapping and multiple counts of interference with child custody, with additional charges possible as the case develops, according to The Blaze.
Investigators noted that the sisters had recently been restricted from using their phones as a form of discipline, which may have contributed to their willingness to interact online.
Family members said the suspect first contacted the children in the summer of 2025 on Roblox, and the conversations later moved to Snapchat.
Authorities allege that Say engaged in grooming behaviors, including sending small gifts, such as food, to the family home in an effort to gain trust, ABC7 reported.
Roblox issued a statement emphasizing its commitment to user safety and its cooperation with law enforcement.
“Roblox has robust policies to protect users, including tools that monitor harmful content and communications,” the company said.
Its safety measures include mandatory age verification, chat restrictions, and default peer-based settings designed to limit communication to similarly aged users.
Officials stressed the broader dangers posed by online platforms for minors.
“No application online is completely safe,” Budensiek said. “If someone can communicate privately from their own room, it can pose serious risks. Parents need to be vigilant.”
The sheriff urged families to monitor their children’s use of social media and online games and to discuss potential risks regularly.
Say remains in custody in Georgia and is awaiting extradition to Martin County, Florida. The sisters have been safely reunited with their family.
Authorities emphasized that even platforms with safety features cannot fully prevent predators from targeting minors and encouraged parents to remain alert to unusual communications or gifts from unknown individuals.
This case follows previous incidents where minors were targeted on Roblox, including a 2022 case in South Florida in which an 11-year-old girl was sexually abused by a 19-year-old man she met through the platform.
Roblox has since implemented stricter age verification measures and facial scanning requirements to place users into age-appropriate default settings, according to NBC 6.
Eliza Jacobs, the company’s senior director of product policy, explained that the platform uses facial scans to estimate users’ ages, ensuring they are placed in age-appropriate settings.
She added that these measures aim to create safer, peer-focused interactions for minors while limiting contact with other users in the same age group.
The incident underscores the critical importance of parental oversight and monitoring of children’s online activity.
Investigators continue to caution that unsupervised interactions on social media and gaming apps can pose serious risks, highlighting the need for families to maintain open communication and utilize available safety tools.
WATCH:
