Feds take case of FL man charged with kidnapping mentally disabled Erie County girl, 14

Authorities investigating the disappearance of a 14-year-old mentally disabled Erie County girl said a 47-year-old Florida man had struck up an online friendship with her while claiming to be a teenager himself.

Their conversations went on for two to three months and included the exchange nude photos of themselves, the girl later told the police.

The two met in person on Tuesday, when state and federal authorities charge that Thomas E. Grossman III drove from his home in Tampa, Florida, to Pennsylvania and picked the girl up at her home in Amity Township, near Wattsburg in southern Erie County.

The girl, who police said has mental capacity of an 8-to-10-year-old, told investigators the two went to a hotel in Erie, where Grossman attempted to cuddle with her, but she said "no."

Grossman and the girl then left Erie County heading south before law enforcement in West Virginia, alerted by the Pennsylvania State Police, found Grossman's Chevrolet Equinox in the parking lot of a Walgreens in Summersville, West Virginia, and took Grossman into custody, investigators reported.

The girl was returned to her family.

Grossman was initially charged by state police on Wednesday with felony counts of kidnapping, interference with the custody of children and concealing the whereabouts of a child, and a misdemeanor count of corruption of minors.

Those charges are expected to be withdrawn, as federal authorities are taking over the case, said Assistant U.S. Attorney Christian Trabold, the lead federal prosecutor in Erie. The FBI on Thursday filed counts of transportation of a minor with intent to engage in criminal sexual activity and travel with intent to engage in illicit sexual contact against Grossman in U.S. District Court in Erie. Federal charges typically carry more severe penalties than charges filed at the state level.

Original charges:FL man charged with kidnapping 14-year-old girl from southern Erie County; arrested in WV

Grossman was placed in the Central Regional Jail and Correctional Facility in Flatwoods, West Virginia, on charges of abduction and child concealment that West Virginia authorities filed following his apprehension, according to state police. He remained in the facility on a $500,000 bond Friday, according to a jail official.

It was not known Friday when Grossman would be extradited to Erie.

Girl has 'intellectual disorder,' investigators said

According to state police, the 14-year-old girl's family reported her missing shortly before 9:30 p.m. on Tuesday after investigators said the girl left home an hour earlier and had not returned. Police were told the girl "has an intellectual disorder and has the mental capacity of an 8-to-10-year-old child," the FBI and state police said in the criminal complaints they filed against Grossman.

State police investigators wrote in their complaint that they determined the girl had recently used a phone to contact a person on a number with an Indianapolis area code.

While canvassing the neighborhood around the girl's home, police said they learned from a witness that they had seen a red SUV stopped near the end of the girl's driveway pick the girl up before the vehicle turned around and drove off.

Authorities learned from phone records that the last call from the girl's phone was made to the number with the Indianapolis area code on Tuesday at 7:41 p.m., according to information in the FBI's criminal complaint. Authorities determined the number the girl contacted was a number belonging to Grossman, state police and the FBI wrote in their complaints.

Police pinged suspect's cell number to track him

State police said they identified a vehicle registered to Grossman and learned through a query of license plate readers that on Tuesday, the Chevrolet Equinox was in West Virginia traveling north on Interstate 77.

On Wednesday, investigators obtained Grossman's cell phone records and found a number of calls between his cell phone and the girl's phone as Grossman's phone was traveling north from Florida, according to information in the complaints. The last call made on Tuesday was at 7:41 p.m. and utilized a cell tower in Cambridge Springs, about 30 miles south of the girl's residence, the FBI wrote in the federal complaint.

During the course of about 15 hours, the FBI wrote, Grossman's cell phone traveled over 1,100 miles and the girl's phone number contacted Grossman's phone 27 times, with several calls lasting longer than 50 minutes and the longest at 228 minutes.

Additional calls were tracked on Wednesday, with Grossman's number utilizing cell towers in Erie, according to the complaint.

Authorities said they learned by pinging Grossman's number that the phone was moving south through Pennsylvania and into West Virginia on Wednesday. State police sent out a request for assistance in locating the vehicle to law enforcement in West Virginia.

Members of the Nicholas County Sheriff's Department, the Summersville Police Department and West Virginia State Police found the Chevrolet Equinox, Grossman and the girl on Wednesday afternoon, authorities reported.

According to state police, the girl told West Virginia Children and Youth Services officials that she met Grossman online two to three months ago and talked to him two to three times a week. She said that prior to their meeting, she had sent him one or two fully nude photos and Grossman sent her nude photos of himself, troopers wrote in their complaint.

The FBI wrote in the federal complaint that the girl said Grossman told her he was either 16 or 19 years old.

Also included in the federal complaint was a statement that law enforcement had examined records indicating that Grossman had a law license in the state of Indiana that was currently listed as suspended.

Case not related to missing Crawford County woman

Pennsylvania State Police worked the investigation into the missing 14-year-old as troopers continue to search for the whereabouts of 35-year-old Candace Caffas, who was reported missing after leaving her Crawford County home sometime July 15 or 16.

Caffas, whom authorities said has special needs, reportedly left her residence in the 9100 block of Mount Pleasant Road in Union Township, south of Meadville, by climbing out a bathroom window.

Caffas was last seen on July 16 on Route 285 in Conneaut Lake, state police reported earlier this week. She was last known to be wearing eyeglasses, a purple T-shirt, orange shorts and blue sneakers, according to troopers.

Numerous searches were conducted in areas around Caffas' home without success in finding her.

More:Large searches suspended as authorities still seek whereabouts of missing Crawford woman

Lt. Mark Weindorf, crime section supervisor for state police Troop E in Lawrence Park Township, said Friday that there is no evidence to suggest there might be a connection between the case involving Grossman and the 14-year-old and the disappearance of Caffas. But he said investigators will explore that possibility as the search for Caffas continues.

Anyone with information on the whereabouts of Caffas is asked to call state police in Meadville at 814-332-6911 or 911.

Staff writer Ed Palattella contributed to this report.

Contact Tim Hahn at thahn@timesnews.com. Follow him on Twitter @ETNhahn.

This article originally appeared on Erie Times-News: Feds charge Fla. man with abducting Erie County, Pa., girl he met online