FLAGLER COUNTY, Fla. – A 15-year-old boy has been formally charged as an adult in connection with a kidnapping investigation involving a missing St. Johns County boy who was found in Flagler County in late December, according to the Flagler County Sheriff’s Office.
According to FCSO, Junior Bishop, a Hastings resident, is facing multiple felony and misdemeanor charges in connection with the investigation into the kidnapping of an 11-year-old boy who was found with a registered sex offender during a traffic stop.
Recommended Videos
On Dec. 31, 2025, the Flagler County Emergency Communications Center received information about Daniel Hairston, 60, of Hastings, traveling through Flagler County with two minors inside his car.
According to News4JAX sister station WKMG in Orlando, investigators said they asked the three to get out of the car, but while speaking with them, it was discovered that one of the minors — the 11-year-old boy — had been reported missing three days earlier out of St. Johns County.
The missing child reportedly told deputies he had been kidnapped, was not safe, and feared that he would have been killed if deputies didn’t intervene.
“The deputy quickly secured the child in the safety of their patrol vehicle and went to detain Hairston, but he tried to flee on foot,” the release read. “Hairston was arrested shortly after for resisting an officer with violence and attempting to deprive a law enforcement officer of their firearm.”
According to FCSO, Bishop was the other minor inside the car and left the scene in Hairston’s car as deputies took Hairston into custody.
According to investigators, this kick-started a chase along U.S. 1, which eventually carried over to State Road 100.
Eventually, Bishop rammed into a deputy’s patrol vehicle, causing both vehicles to crash into the wood line and the truck to roll over, deputies said.
Bishop now faces felony charges of aggravated battery on a law enforcement officer, fleeing and eluding at a reckless speed — both first-degree felonies — and grand theft of a motor vehicle, as well as three misdemeanor charges of resisting an officer without violence, reckless driving (first offense), and operating a motor vehicle without a driver’s license.
Each first-degree felony carries a minimum mandatory sentence of 30 years in prison, if convicted.
“This kid was already on probation for a violent offense when he committed these new felony crimes,” said Sheriff Rick Staly. “I commend and support our State Attorney for charging Bishop as an adult because of the seriousness of his crimes. Frankly, if you commit serious adult felonies as a juvenile, especially when you are already on probation, you should expect to be held accountable as an adult. This is especially true when your actions could have seriously injured a deputy sheriff.”
Bishop’s involvement in the kidnapping as a possible co-conspirator is still under investigation, deputies said.
Bishop is being held in the Volusia County jail on a $133,000 bond.