FLAGLER COUNTY, Fla. (TCN) —Â A 61-year-old registered sex offender who was arrested in January in connection with the kidnapping of a child he lured to his campsite has pleaded no contest to the charges against him.
On Dec. 31, 2025, a missing child was found in Darnell Hairston’s truck during a traffic stop, according to the Flagler County Sheriff’s Office. During the stop, deputies determined one of the vehicle’s occupants was an 11-year-old boy who had been reported missing in another county three days prior.Â
The child and another minor, age 15, were placed in the patrol car as deputies continued the investigation. Hairston reportedly grabbed the deputy’s gun and tried to flee and was arrested. During that arrest, the 15-year-old, Junior Bishop, allegedly got out of the patrol car and back into Hairston’s truck and fled the scene.Â
Bishop was charged with aggravated fleeing and eluding, aggravated battery on a law enforcement officer, reckless driving, driving without a license, and resisting an officer without violence, according to the sheriff’s office.
Law & Crime reports the 11-year-old victim, whose name has not been released, said in an interview that Hairston had lured him to his campsite, where he tied him up with shoelaces and choked him with an extension cord. He also alleged Hairston threatened him at gunpoint and knifepoint and put duct tape over his mouth.
Hairston is a sex offender, per Law & Crime. Previous convictions include false imprisonment and lewd and lascivious behavior with a child under 16. According to the Florida sex offender registry, Hairston was first convicted in 1999.
Per Law & Crime, Bishop is being tried as an adult and is scheduled to appear in court on Sept. 23.
Records obtained by Law & Crime show Hairston pleaded no contest in August to kidnapping of a child under 13, aggravated child abuse, battery by strangulation, robbery with a deadly weapon, and resisting arrest. He is scheduled to be sentenced Sept. 9.
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