Tonia and Troy say they are desperate to keep their 18-year-old daughter, Maddy, from going to Argentina to meet a young man with whom she’s been having an online relationship with for 14 months. They say they fear he may be “grooming” her to be sold as a sex slave and that if she goes to visit him, they may never see her again.
“I think Andres is just using the computer to lure girls down to Argentina,” says Tonia, about her daughter’s “boyfriend” whom she says her daughter met while playing an online video game.
Tonia has claimed that she searched the information that Andres provided to her daughter about him and his parents and could not validate any of the information about them, and has also claimed that she had a friend search their IDs and that they came up as fake.
“I believe that Andres is not the person he claims to be,” Tonia says.
Desperate to keep Maddy from leaving the country, she sent her daughter to live with her father, Tonia’s ex-husband, Troy, who says he agrees that his daughter may be in danger if she goes to Argentina.
“If Madelyn goes to Argentina, I believe she could end up being sold to a brothel,” says Troy, who claims that Argentina is a “hotbed” for human trafficking. “She’s worth a whole lot more money as a virgin as opposed to someone who is not.”
Troy says he’s offered to host Andres at his house so that Maddy could meet him but claims Andres refused his offer. Andres says he has safety concerns about visiting Maddy, in part, because of the accusations her parents have made about him.
“He said no because we were going to kill him,” Troy claims. “It’s been one excuse after another.”
Determined to make their daughter change her mind, Tonia and Troy turn to Dr. Phil for help.
“I’m afraid that the only thing I’ll ever see after she goes to Argentina is a picture of her dead body when she comes back,” says Tonia, who says the family has kept two of Maddy’s passports away from her, destroying at least one, in an effort to keep her in the country.
Troy adds, “She needs to find her love somewhere else, not online. She’s buying it hook, line and sinker, and he’s reeling her in. She goes to Argentina, she’ll be in trouble that none of us can get her out of.”
Is Andres the person he claims to be? See what happens when Dr. Phil speaks with Andres, and what an investigator discovers. This episode airs Tuesday. Check here to see where you can watch.
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