Daughters help bring down ‘pedo’ dad with years-long TikTok campaign to catch fugitive accused of child sex crimes
A fugitive wanted on child abuse charges and featured on “America’s Most Wanted” is finally in custody thanks to his daughters using TikTok to help hunt for the dad they called “a pedo.”
Davie Albarran, 51, was nabbed in Lakeland, Florida on Sunday night after 451 days on the run, Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd announced.
The search for Albarran – who was wanted in Orange County on charges of sexual battery and lewd conduct with a child under 12 – was spearheaded by his daughters, Ana and Yaneiry, who frequently posted on social media asking the public to help track him down.
“Please share and paint the city with his face,” Ana said in one post. “My father Davie Albarran is a pedo, he’s on the run and the cops are looking for him.”
At the time of his arrest, Davie Albarran also owed child support in Orange County, Sheriff Judd added.
He had been wanted since 2022 when a young relative told her mother that she had been molested, WFTV9 reported.
The admission prompted other family members to speak out against Alberran – including Ana, who told FOX35 Orlando that her father touched her inappropriately when she was a child.
“When I posted it, so many people said, gave me messages saying you know what, your dad did that to me too,” she told the outlet.
By the time all the allegations were reported, however, Alberran had already skipped town.
He was featured on “America’s Most Wanted” in December 2022, and his daughters continued their social media campaign while also staking out motels in order to track him down.
Last week, Ana and Yaneiry appeared on “America’s Most Wanted” to again plead for information – which prompted a tip about the location of Albarran’s cell phone, WFTV9 explained.
The daughters reported the cell phone ping to investigators, who finally caught Alabrran in a shed behind a house in Lakeland.
“Well, he made a mistake. AMW (America’s Most Wanted) ran him all over the nation and he came to Lakeland,” Judd said of the arrest.
“When he came to Lakeland, we received confidential information. They said, ‘Hey, we know where this dude is.’ So we snuck around Sunday night just before midnight in a backyard in Country Haven Drive.
“Well, it might have been Country Haven Drive, but it was no haven for him,” he added.
When he was captured, Albarran tried to tell officers that his name was Jose, Judd said.
As of Tuesday morning, Albarran is still being held at Polk County Jail, online records showed.
“I started screaming. I was crying. I was in disbelief,” Ana told WFTV of the moment authorities called to say her father had been captured.
Ana and her sister said they are looking forward to seeing Albarran in court.
“We are his karma. I want him to see that we got him,” Yaneiry told the outlet.
Osceola County Sheriff Marcos Lopez applauded the sisters and Polk County in his own Monday announcement
“We want to thank everyone involved in the successful apprehension of this individual including the victims’ families whose persistence and perseverance aided in this arrest,” he said.
The Polk County Sheriff’s Office did not immediately return The Post’s request for comment on when Albarran will be extradited to Osceola.
It was not immediately clear if he had an attorney representing him.
