49-Year-Old Arrested on I-95 for Lewd and Lascivious Acts on 14-Year-Old Runaway

It was just after 3 a.m. Wednesday morning. Todd Blanchard of 1218 Hickman Rd. in Jacksonville was driving a red Pontiac north on I-95 when, two miles after the Palm Coast Parkway exit, Flagler County Sheriff’s Office‘s deputy Weaver noticed the car’s passenger-side headlight was out, and made a traffic stop. When Weaver walked up to the Pontiac, he noticed Blanchard not wearing a shirt. He was putting a jacket on. A teen-age girl was sitting next to him. A bra was on the car floor in front of her. The girl was wearing a sweatshirt.

Blanchard grew nervous. He identified himself as Scott Blanchard and said he had a driver’s license from Wisconsin, but couldn’t produce it, nor produce any form of identification, because, he said, his wallet had been stolen in Orlando. Weaver asked him if he had anything at all with his name on it–a debit card, a check book, a credit card. No, Blanchard said. Blanchard admitted he’d received a warning for the inoperable headlight in Orlando. He showed the warning to Weaver. The name on the warning was Scott Blanchard.

When Weaver ran the name through a driver’s license check, it showed Scott Blanchard’s address as Marathon. But when Weaver asked Blanchard what county he was from in Wisconsin, Blanchard couldn’t say. Blanchard got “extremely nervous,” according to the police report. He began avoiding eye contact and volunteering information without being asked questions. The girl appeared just as nervous. When asked about her age, she stuttered an answer: 19. When asked for her name and date of birth, she gave a date that would make her only 17. Weaver asked to try a date again. She said she was born in 1996 and was 19. She had no identification.

Blanchard explained that he was driving back to Jacksonville after visiting a friend for a few days in Orlando, a guy named John, who had introduced him to the girl, and that he was taking the girl back to Jacksonville. He couldn’t provide a phone number or any contact information about John. It was too much conflicting information. The deputy asked the girl to leave Blanchard’s car, and he secured her in the sheriff’s cruiser, suspecting at that point that she was a run-away. While attempting to determine as much, Weaver asked Blanchard to get out of the vehicle and asked him if there were belongings in the car. Blanchard pointed to three bags in the trunk of the car. Weaver looked through them in an attempt to find any identifying information.

He noticed a passport. Blanchard’s passport. With his photograph, and his full name: Todd Blanchard. He’s a native of Detroit.

Blanchard was placed under arrest. A check of Blanchard’s Florida driver’s license revealed a string of offenses, including numerous suspensions and revocations for habitual traffic violations or for obtaining an ID card and a license by fraud, for fleeing or attempting to elude, for failing to pay a fine, for failing to complete driver’s school, and so on. His age was determined to be 49.

By then the girl’s identity was clearer, too. She had a missing-person case number since October 10 in Orlando. Her age: 14. She spoke to another deputy about Blanchard. While it’s not clear how she came in contact with Blanchard or why she was his passenger on the way to Jacksonville, she told another deputy that just before being stopped by Weaver, Blanchard had been fondling her breasts and masturbating while driving.

The girl was returned to her mother, and the Department of Children and Families notified of the case. Blanchard was taken to the Flagler County jail, charged with lewd and lascivious molestation, felony driving with a suspended license, interference with custody and obstruction of justice. He was being held on $80,000 bond.