A multi-state search for a man who abducted a North Carolina girl ended in Broward County Wednesday night with the arrest of the suspect and the safe recovery of the 12-year-old girl.

After sightings in South Florida, an alert Miami-Dade sergeant pulled over Timothy Howard Newman, 38, outside a Denny’s off the Hallandale Beach Boulevard exit of Interstate 95 just before 6 p.m.

Inside the red 1998 Chrysler, he found the girl, whose named is being withheld because of her age.

Newman is wanted for allegedly abducting the pre-teen and traveling south to Florida. Authorities said Newman is a registered sex offender who had been communicating with the girl for months.

The girl’s father told authorities his daughter was taken Sunday. She will now be returned home.

Newman was handed over to the FBI, which is taking over the case because it involves the taking of a minor across state lines.

Earlier Wednesday, Coral Gables detectives rushed to a Mobil Mart at Southwest 42nd Avenue and South Dixie Highway where Newman apparently used a credit card at an ATM that alerted police.

A "be on the lookout," or BOLO was issued for Newman and his Chrysler. The Miami-Dade police sergeant first spotted the car northbound on I -95.