15-year-old charged as adult in Flagler County sex-offender kidnapping case

[Jim Burton]

https://www.clickorlando.com/news/local ... ping-case/

FLAGLER COUNTY, Fla. – A 15-year-old will be charged as an adult after his arrest in connection with the reported kidnapping of a missing boy by a sex offender in Flagler County, according to the sheriff’s office.

Junior Bishop faces charges of aggravated battery on a law enforcement officer, fleeing and eluding at a reckless speed, grand theft of a motor vehicle, reckless driving, operating a motor vehicle without a driver’s license and three counts of resisting an officer without violence, the Flagler County Sheriff’s Office said in a news release.

Bishop was taken into custody Dec. 31, 2025, after speeding away from the traffic stop where deputies arrested registered sex offender Darnell Hairston, 60, of Hastings, the sheriff’s office said.

Bishop and an 11-year-old boy, the latter of whom had been reported missing three days earlier out of St. Johns County, were in Hairston’s truck when deputies pulled it over on U.S. Highway 1, the sheriff’s office said.

Investigators said they interviewed the younger boy after he was taken to a local hospital for treatment.