WELLFORD, SC (WSPA) – Wellford police said a routine traffic stop led to the discovery of a kidnapped 13-year-old girl, and may have involved a human trafficking case. 

On Dec. 4, Officer R.A. Smith was driving southbound on Interstate 85 near mile marker 67 around lunch time when he noticed the suspect. 

“I just watched his nervous behavior. He was watching what I was doing,” said Officer Smith. “I watched him make an improper lane shift and thought I’d just stop and talk to him about it.”

He said Rahim Nader-Fayez Olabi, who turns 23-years-old next month, was behind the wheel. 

“He was very calm,” Officer Smith recalled. 

Olabi’s passenger was a 13-year-old girl.  

“Certainly her age was cause for concern,” said Officer Smith. “There’s no logical reason that somebody with no relation should be traveling cross country with somebody with such a vast age difference without obviously a compelling story and this just wasn’t there.”

He said the girl’s attire was also a red flag. 

“She was not dressed appropriately for the weather,” he said. “I was certainly cold standing on the side of the interstate. She was not dressed appropriately, was very scantily clad.”

Smith said he took the girl to his patrol vehicle so he could talk with her separately from Olabi. 

Wellford Police Chief David Green said the girl seemed to have an answer to all their questions, initially keeping her story aligned with Olabi’s saying they were headed to San Antonio, Texas. 

“Said he [Olabi] had permission from the girl’s grandmother to take her out of state,” recalled Chief Green, who added their investigation revealed that wasn’t true. 

He said the girl’s grandmother believed she was in school and had not reported her missing. Investigators learned she left Raleigh with Olabi, who’s from Charlotte, the night before after the two talked on social media.  

“After some interviewing, she did break down and say that she was a runaway and that she left her home to travel with this male to Texas but she was unaware of some of the other stops in between,” said Chief Green. “He did admit that he was coming at first from Charlotte to Atlanta, and then on down to Texas. Being of course, everything we’ve been taught with human trafficking, that is a telltale sign of somebody transporting – especially a young female from different places for the purpose of sexual activity.”

Olabi is in the Spartanburg County Detention Center charged with contributing to the delinquency of a minor as well as traffic offenses.

A warrant from Raleigh Police Department shows that agency is also charging him with first-degree kidnapping and statutory rape of a child. 

“Something as simple as a minor traffic stop turned into what’s later to become a missing child that had been taken under false pretenses,” said Chief Green. 

It’s not the first time Olabi has caused a scare. 

In April 2017, Nexstar affiliate WNCN reported Olabi used fliers to recruit 13 to 16 year olds, without their parents’ permission, offering work with Carolina Youth Club. 

The director says their non-profit is legitimate but they fired Olabi about a year and a half ago.

“We’ve gotten numerous complaints and inquiries about Mr. Olabi out there operating in our name. We warned Raleigh police department. We warned shopping centers,” said Carolina Youth Center Director Jule Huston. 

Chief Green says the Department of Homeland Security is investigating Olabi. 

“Human trafficking is real. It’s not just the van full of people going to and from different places. It’s little girls and little boys that are taken from their home,” he said, adding if people notice strange situations they should speak up. 

Officer Smith encourages parents to pay close attention to their children’s social media activities. 

“I’m certainly glad that God put me in the right place to make that stop,” said Officer Smith. “I don’t know what her fate would’ve been.”