LAUREL COUNTY, Ky. (LEX 18) — James Herbert Brick, the man arrested in connection with the missing teen in Laurel County who was rescued due to popularized TikTok hand signals, was indicted by a grand jury Friday morning.
He is charged with first-degree unlawful imprisonment, kidnapping a minor, and possession of matter portraying a sexual performance by a minor.
His bond is set at $50,000.
On Thursday, November 4, Laurel County officials arrested James Herbert Brick, 61, of Cherokee, North Carolina, at the intersection of I-75 at KY 80 (Exit 41) after a nearby driver noticed a female passenger in Brick's vehicle using hand gestures that are known on TikTok as a way to represent domestic violence.
Upon investigation, the female passenger was a reported missing juvenile as of Tuesday morning from Asheville, North Carolina.
"It's a really powerful story and such an important example of how a tool like this can be useful," said Suzanne Duncan.
Duncan is the vice president of philanthropy of the Canadian Women's Foundation.
The organization launched the "Signal For Help" campaign in April 2020 in anticipation of a spike in gender-based violence due to the lockdown.
Now, the group is hearing from people around the world about the hand signal.
"We've never expected a situation like this. A woman in a car. That was very clever and resourceful of her to think to use this and it's such a relief that there were other drivers who were able to recognize this and knew what to do," said Duncan.
