DeLand Man Charged With Kidnapping Teenage Girl

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DeLand, FL - A 57-year-old man faces several charges - including child abuse and kidnapping - for taking a teenage girl by force in a neighborhood north of DeLand.

That's what the Volusia County Sheriff's Office is saying about the arrest yesterday afternoon of Robert A. Dishman. He's currently held at Volusia County Jail on $31,500 bond on the felony charges listed above as well as custodial interference and driving with a suspended license.

VCSO spokesperson Andrew Gant says the 16-year-old called her mother while inside Dishman's gray Lincoln Towncar, a conversation deputies were able to hear in real time because the 36-year-old woman had called 911 (audio below) just before 3 p.m. to report her missing daughter.

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"The victim told deputies she was walking in the area of Arabesque Drive and Arborvitae Way when Dishman approached her on an ATV," Gant added. "Dishman yelled at the girl to get on the ATV. She knew him, so she approached him, and when she did, she said he grabbed her and pulled her onto the ATV."

According to the arrest report, the girl's mother says Dishman was an old neighbor who had followed her daughter in the past and she had warned him before to stay away from her.

The report also notes that Dishman tried to kiss someone at that point and provided someone with a flip phone so they could call him, but because of redactions in the report, it's not clear if that person is the 16-year-old or her 14-year-old female friend, who was also there when it happened and ran from the scene to tell the kidnapped girl's mother.

From there, detectives believe he forced the 16-year-old girl to go into his Lake Mamie Road home and then his Lincoln, at which point he drove to a home off of a dirt road in DeLeon Springs and told the girl to stay in the vehicle while he was inside the home. That's when she called her mother, per Gant.

"The girl said she was scared, and she knew Dishman has firearms and knives because she’s seen them in the past, so she didn’t try to fight or run away," Gant noted.

Thanks to her phone signal and VCSO's Air One helicopter (video posted below), the vehicle was spotted a short time later on Reynolds Road near State Road 11 and pulled over by deputies on the ground, who took Dishman and the girl into custody.

"She appeared scared and shaken, but wasn’t injured," Gant stated.

The arrest report shows Dishman denied taking the girl against her will at any point, adding that she asked to come with him because he needed to get cigarettes for a friend at the home in DeLeon Springs and she wanted to get some as well.

Dishman and the girl claimed no sexual activity had happened between them at any point, per the report, but the girl did say Dishman gave her cigarettes and a glass of whiskey, which she drank, apparently from a glass mug found in the vehicle while it was being searched by VCSO.

Detectives arrested Dishman after they determined that there were several inconsistencies in his story.

VCJ records show Dishman has been booked there three times in the past, most recently in November 2017 for driving an unregistered vehicle and driving with a suspended license. He was also booked on similar charges in August 2013.