OXFORD, Ala. (WBRC) – Oxford police say they arrested a man accused of abducting a 16-year-old girl from North Carolina. Investigators say the man and the teen are second cousins and knew one another.

On Friday, May 3, the Oxford Police Department were notified by the sheriff’s office in North Carolina about a 33-year-old man named Richard Maybach, who had potentially abducted a 16-year-old girl from the area.

“The information we received again from Cabarrus County was that they were traveling in a rented white BMW SUV, they had a Nevada tag which officers were able to locate,” says Sgt. Butler.

While on patrol, Oxford investigators say Maybach vehicle was spotted at a local motel on South Quintard Avenue in the Oxford area.

“Officers were able to make contact with Mr. Maybach at a motel here in town, the Rodeway Inn. They were able to take him into custody and also secure the girl who was in good condition,” says Sgt. Butler.

Helping agencies in the North Carolina area, Sgt. Butler says law enforcement work together as part of a team, and that team stretches across the country.

“For law enforcement agencies to communicate with each other is vital for us to be successful in our rolls and our responsibilities in law enforcement by using different technologies and ways to communicate with one another, and be able to recover a missing juvenile potentially abducted from another state,” says Sgt. Butler.

Oxford investigators say the girl was sent to Children’s Hospital in Birmingham for evaluation and later picked up by her parents. Richard Maybach is waiting to be extradited back to North Carolina.

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A 16-year-old North Carolina student suspended for using the term “illegal alien” in class is officially taking legal action against the school district for “harsh punishment” and “false accusations of racism.”

According to the student’s mother, Leah McGhee, in April, an English teacher at Central Davidson High School in Lexington gave a vocabulary assignment that involved the word “alien.” In response, her son Christian asked if the teacher meant “like space aliens or illegal aliens without green cards?”

Another student allegedly took offense to the term and threatened to fight Christian, forcing the teacher to contact the assistant principal. The staff later deemed the term to be offensive to Hispanic students and punished Christian with a three-day suspension.

After the story went viral, the Liberty Justice Center announced Tuesday that they would be representing McGhee in a lawsuit against the Davidson County Board of Education.

NEARLY TWO-THIRDS OF AMERICANS BELIEVE ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION IS REAL CRISIS, NOT A MEDIA NARRATIVE: POLL

“Even though Christian asked a factual, non-threatening question—about a word the class was discussing—the school board branded him with false accusations of racism,” senior counsel at the Liberty Justice Center Buck Dougherty said in a statement. “The school has not only violated his constitutional right to free speech, but also his right to due process and his right to access education, a guaranteed right under North Carolina law. We are proud to stand beside Christian and his family in challenging this egregious violation of the First and Fourteenth Amendments.”

According to the attorneys, Christian was prohibited from taking part in a track meet and faced bullying and threats at his school. His parents eventually unenrolled him, and he is completing his semester in a homeschooling program.

Notably, the lawsuit says, the student who allegedly took offense to Christian’s question clarified that he was not actually upset or offended by the term. The lawsuit also cited, “a School administrator’s assertion that harsh punishment was necessary to avoid being ‘unfair’ to students who received the same punishment ‘for saying the N word’—a preposterous comparison.”

The McGhee family removed their son from the school in response to negative backlash after the suspension. (Peter Kneffel/picture alliance )

“School officials have effectively fabricated a racial incident out of thin air and branded our client as a racist without even giving him an opportunity to appeal. Fortunately, young people do not shed their First Amendment rights at school, and we look forward to vindicating Christian’s rights here,” educational freedom attorney at the Liberty Justice Center Dean McGee said.

The lawsuit is calling for the school board to reverse and remove the suspension, along with the claim that he used “racially” motivated language in class, from his record. The family is also seeking a public apology and monetary damages to be determined at the trial.

FAMILY PURSUES LEGAL ACTION AGAINST SCHOOL AFTER IT ‘CENSORED’ SON FOR ‘THERE ARE ONLY TWO GENDERS’ SHIRT

In a comment via the Liberty Justice Center, Leah McGhee said, “I have raised our son to reject racism in all its forms, but it is the school, not Christian, that injected race into this incident. It appears that this administration would rather destroy its own reputation and the reputation of my son rather than admit they made a mistake.”

The lawsuit alleges that the school board violated Christian’s First and Fourteenth Amendment rights. (Mark Kerrison/In Pictures via Getty Images/Brian A. Jackson/South Florida Sun Sentinel)

Fox News Digital reached out to the Davidson County Board of Education for a comment.

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HOOVER, Ala. – There isn’t a more well-rounded guard in the 2025 class than five-star Darryn Peterson. The 6-foot-5, 195-pound Peterson does a little bit of everything on the court and does it all well. There’s a reason his recruitment is overflowing with bluebloods and other heavy hitters, after all.

Following one of his Phenom United squad’s games at adidas 3SSB in Birmingham, Peterson spoke to Rivals about where things stand as they relate to his college recruitment and what might be next for his process.

*****

ON UPCOMING VISITS:

“The next one I’m setting up is a North Carolina official, but we don’t have that date yet.”

ON WHAT HE HOPES TO SEE DURING HIS NORTH CAROLINA VISIT:

“I’m excited to see what it’s like down there. I watched some of their games this year and I’ve been waiting to take this official visit for a while. Watching RJ Davis and how ball dominant he was and how he got to hoop this year, I feel like if I go there we could have similar type games.”

ON COACHES THAT HAVE REACHED OUT RECENTLY:

“I just recently got a re-offer from coach [Mark] Pope and the Kentucky staff. At Arkansas, I’ve already talked to coach Chin [Coleman] and coach (John Calipari). I’m pretty sure I’m going to go visit there, too.”

ON CALIPARI TAKING THE ARKANSAS JOB:

“I thought he’d be there for life. He was telling me that I was coming there next year and all that, so I didn’t expect him to leave at all.”

ON THE MESSAGE FROM CALIPARI:

“He said he got a new job, but nothing has changed. They still want me. They are still going to have Kentucky-type everything.”

ON KENTUCKY:

“I might go visit there again. They say the same things. They want me there just like Cal wanted me there. They say they watched stuff and have seen me and are really interested.”

ON SCHOOLS IN THE MIX TO LAND HIS COMMITMENT:

“Kansas, Ohio State, Kentucky, Arkansas and North Carolina. There’s probably another one I’m forgetting. My dad knows all of them.”

ON KANSAS:

“I went there when I was young – in eighth grade for an unofficial. I haven’t taken an official yet, but I’m going to visit there, too.”

ON BILL SELF:

“That’s my guy. He’s been watching me since freshman year. He just tells me to keep getting better and that they want me. They feel like Kansas is the best place for me. I like how they run their sets, I like a coach that runs sets but doesn’t over-coach. He has sets that they put in, but he lets his guards figure it out in crunch time.”

It’s unclear how serious things with Kentucky and Arkansas will get, seeing as both programs are under new leadership but both seem to have a puncher’s chance to climb into the thick of things should they get Peterson on campus during the fall or summer. Kansas and North Carolina seem like the most serious players for the time being.