Joshua Magraff during traffic stop on March 9, 2026.Credit : Putnam County Sheriff’s Office

NEED TO KNOW

A North Carolina man was stopped in Florida for speeding
When the deputy asked his passenger for identification, she gave him several fake names and birthdates, police allege
The man, Joshua Magraff, said the two were in Florida “to play gambling games,” police allege

A North Carolina man was pulled over for speeding — and inside his car a sheriff’s deputy found a teenage girl who had been missing for a month, authorities allege.

On Sunday, March 8, a deputy with the Putnam County Sheriff’s Office in Florida pulled over a vehicle that was traveling at a high rate of speed on US 17 South near Crescent City, the sheriff’s office said in a statement on Facebook.

In body cam footage provided by the sheriff’s office, the driver identified himself as Joshua Magraff, 37, of Charlotte. When the deputy asked the young female passenger for identification, Magraff says, “No sir, that’s my little cousin,” saying she was 16.

When the deputy asks the passenger for her name, she said “Huh?” several times before stating that her name was Brandy Lewis.

She said was born in 2013, which would make her only 12 years old.

The passenger then gave the deputy two more false names and birthdates, causing him to be concerned for her welfare, the statement says.

The deputy had the girl sit in his patrol car, where she told him her real name.

“Upon a search, it was found that the teen was reported missing a month earlier from North Carolina,” the statement says.

Authorities reached out to the teen’s mother, who said she didn’t know Magraff and that she had reported her daughter missing on Feb. 16.

The deputy asked Magraff to step out of the car and questioned him about his connection to the teen.

Magraff changed his story, saying she was not his cousin, but a “friend.”

When the deputy asked Magraff how old he is, he told him he is 37.

“You’re 37 and you’re friends with a 16-year-old girl?” the deputy asked Magraff.

Magraff then told the deputy he thought the girl was 19 and that they were in Florida “to play gambling games,” the statement says.

​​Deputies searched the vehicle and allegedly found 19 counterfeit $100 bills, synthetic marijuana, marijuana and drug paraphernalia.

Deputies contacted the Department of Children and Families to take custody of the teen until she could be reunited with her mother.

Magraff was arrested and charged with interference in child custody, synthetic marijuana possession, possession of counterfeit currency, contributing to deliquency of a minor and possession of drug paraphernalia.

Joshua Magraff mugshot.Putnam County Sheriff’s Office

He was taken to the Putnam County Jail and held on $9,000 bond.

The investigation is ongoing.

It is unclear whether Magraff has an attorney who can speak on his behalf.