The father of a teenage girl who deputies say was kidnapped on Christmas Day found her using his phone’s parental controls, according to authorities in Texas.

A 15-year-old girl was reported kidnapped from the Houston suburb of Porter on Thursday after her parents said she took her dog out for a walk but did not return, the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office said in a news release.

Authorities said the girl’s father tracked her phone using parental controls, which led him to a secluded, partially wooded area in Harris County, roughly two miles from Porter.

Her father located her and her dog inside a maroon-coloured pickup truck with a partially nude 23-year-old man, the sheriff’s office said. The father helped his daughter escape from the truck and contacted law enforcement, the sheriff’s office added.

Authorities did not name the father or his teenage daughter.

The man, Giovanni Rosales Espinoza, was taken into custody without incident and charged with aggravated kidnapping and indecency with a child, the sheriff’s office said, alleging he threatened the girl with a knife and abducted her off the street. He remains in the Montgomery County Jail at this time with no bond, according to authorities.

It was not immediately clear if Espinoza has legal representation.

“Christmas is a day meant for joy, but this man chose to shatter that joy by targeting a child,” Montgomery County Sheriff Wesley Doolittle said in a statement. “I am incredibly proud of our deputies and detectives who worked tirelessly to ensure this dangerous predator was swiftly apprehended and is now off our streets.”

“Rest assured that your Sheriff’s Office remains vigilant every hour of every day to keep your families safe,” he added (NBC News, but headline rejigged)

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