Man accused of kidnapping Hall Co. girl will remain in Ohio for ‘foreseeable future’

HALL COUNTY, Ga. — The man who has been charged with kidnapping a Hall County girl after meeting her online will remain in Ohio “for the foreseeable is future.”

Maria Gomez-Perez, 12, vanished from her Gainesville home in May.

The Hall County Sheriff’s Office said Maria met Antonio Agustin, a Guatemalan native, online and began chatting with him and other adult men through Facebook Messenger. She told Agustin that she was unhappy and wanted to leave home.

On May 29, Agustin drove from his Ohio home to Gainesville to pick Maria up and take her back to northeast Ohio where she remained until last week when Agustin was arrested.

The Sheriff’s Office initially said that he would be extradited back to Georgia, but the district attorney’s office announced Friday that Agustin would remain in Ohio.

“Based on the information we have at this time, the most serious criminal offenses in this case occurred in Ohio, and the bulk of necessary witnesses even to prove a Hall County case are in Ohio. It makes sense that the suspect answer to what charges Ohio proceeds on first,” said Lee Darragh, District Attorney for the Northeastern Judicial Circuit of Georgia.

Hall County Sheriff Gerald Crouch said he agreed with the prosecutors.

“My primary goal in this case is to see justice done. If that means we have to wait for this suspect to have his day in court in Ohio before he faces our charges, so be it. I just want to make sure he has no chance of luring another young girl from home, wreaking havoc on another community like he did ours,” said Sheriff Couch.

Agustin is currently being held in the Tuscarawas County Jail in Ohio.