Broward man accused of kidnapping a 16-year-old girl from a shopping plaza, deputies say

A Sunrise man is facing multiple charges after Broward Sheriff's Office deputies said he kidnapped a 16-year-old girl from a Lauderdale Lakes shopping plaza on Sunday.

Raymar Fraser, 41, was arrested and charged with kidnapping, battery, and interfering with the custody of a minor.

According to investigators, Fraser approached the teenager outside a thrift store and began speaking with her. After the girl rejected his advances, Fraser allegedly forced her into his pickup truck.

Surveillance footage from a nearby business, Wall2Wall Grillz, captured part of the encounter showing the teen walking through a parking lot before entering a vehicle with an older man.

"I didn't even realize that was going on in real time at the moment," store owner John Lundy said, noting he was working in another part of the business at the time.

Court documents state the teen's mother noticed her daughter's location changing on the Life360 tracking app and attempted to contact her. The victim told her mother she could not talk.

Deputies said Fraser drove the teen to a 7-Eleven in Tamarac. Investigators said the teenager briefly exited the truck before Fraser pulled her back inside, where court documents state he kissed and touched her. Fraser later allowed the girl to leave after she answered a phone call from her mother.

"This was a very scary situation. As a parent, this is your worst nightmare," Broward Sheriff's Office public information officer Veda Coleman-Wright said.

Coleman-Wright credited both the tracking application and the victim's quick thinking for leading to a swift response by law enforcement.

"I must tell you, the tracking app was so important in this case, getting law enforcement involved right away," Coleman-Wright said. "And our victim, our young victim. She found herself in a very scary situation, but she kept mental notes of what was going on."