A Bay County man is behind bars after assisting a 14-year-old juvenile runaway this past weekend.
On February 5th, Washington County Sheriff’s Office was notified of a runaway juvenile.
WCSO Investigators took action in an attempt to locate the juvenile and posted a missing persons flyer on our social media page.
Later that day the juvenile began making contact with family through social media but would not tell them where he was located.
On February 6th, at approximately 8:30 a.m., Washington County Sheriff’s Office received a tip from the Bay County Sheriff’s Office that the missing juvenile was located at a Motel in Bay County and was in the company of 45-year-old, William Wayne Knight.
Panama City Police Department located both individuals at the Motel where Knight was detained. Further investigation revealed Knight booked the room on February 2, 2024, and the juvenile was present at the time of booking. It was also determined that the individuals were spotted together on Saturday as well.
At the conclusion of the investigation, Wright was arrested and is being held in the Bay County Jail awaiting extradition back to Washington County on the charges of interference with child custody.
The juvenile has been returned safely to his family.
