Police use tips, technology to track down kidnapper

Two days after his arrest, police are releasing new details of exactly how they tracked down 44-year-old Rashiem Dolton in Georgia after he kidnapped a Jacksonville woman and her three young children and held them against their will for three weeks, then fled Florida for Georgia once he realized police were on to him.

Dolton, whose alias is Luther Ogletree, met the victim online at a website called Model Mayhem.  Police say he came to Jacksonville to meet her.

At a press conference Friday morning, Director John Hartley with JSO says the victim’s sister got a call from the victim’s best friend, telling her to call her sister.  She was able to use a phone at a busines while paying an electric bill to contact her friend while Dolton stayed in the car with the children.  Police say he threatened to kill her kids if she told anyone what was going on.

When the victim's sister called, she got evasive responses and wouldn’t say where she was or where she was going.  The sister, who at that point was in the Steele St. area, flagged down a JSO officer to let them know what was happening.

When police called the victim’s cell, Hartley says, she was evasive again and said she was heading to Tampa.

“She gives police evasive responses telling them she won’t return or she can’t return.”

Police looked into it and found she was actually being taken to the Valdosta, Georgia area.  They then contacted U.S. Marshals, who figured out exactly where the suspect was.

"They were able to pinpoint the victim's location at I-75 and Georgia 49 in a McDonalds parking lot and made the arrest."

Dolton's criminal past includes kidnapping charges in Georgia in Tennessee.  He is a registered sex offender as well.  Hartley says there were already warrants out for his arrest in Georgia when he was arrested for the Jacksonville kidnapping.

The victim and her children are alright.  Hartley says this case is a sad reminder of the dangers of meeting strangers online.

"We have a list of crimes that have occurred.  Anywhere from murder to sexual battery to robbery that occur online from people meeting people online."

JSO says they'll have a chance to talk to her in person on Friday afternoon.