Overview
- Sherburne County filed one count of kidnapping and one count of first-degree criminal sexual conduct on Friday; Joseph Andrew Bragg is being held in the county jail pending further proceedings.
- The child vanished Wednesday after leaving her school bus in Zimmerman, prompting an IPAWS/AMBER alert once officers were in position to make an arrest.
- Cellphone location data and a rental white Dodge Ram guided officers to Albert Lea around 12:30 a.m. Thursday, where a traffic stop recovered the girl and Bragg was arrested.
- The criminal complaint details a December Facebook contact with the girl’s mother, along with rideshare records and Plymouth hotel surveillance showing a large red suitcase and unused diapers.
- In a forensic interview, the child reported a sexual assault, Bragg declined to give a statement to investigators, and authorities credited a coordinated response involving roughly 200 personnel and hundreds of volunteers.