Authorities have arrested the man they believe abducted 13-year-old Clay Moore from a bus stop last month and left him tied up in the woods, officials said Wednesday.
The Manatee County Sheriff’s Office released little information about the arrest of Vicente Ignacio Beltran-Moreno, a 22-year-old Mexican national.
A news conference was planned for later Wednesday.
Clay was grabbed Feb. 25 while waiting at his school bus stop in Parrish. The gunman drove off with him in a red pickup truck, then left him tied up in the woods about 20 miles away. The boy’s parents have said he used a safety pin to pick apart the duct tape that held his wrists and then freed himself.
Beltran-Moreno became a suspect after investigators took an artist’s sketch to a migrant worker camps east of Bradenton.
Investigators have said they believe that Clay was picked out at random and that the kidnapper planned to leave him tied up in the woods until a ransom was paid.