As the search for 9-year-old Melodee Buzzard continues , detectives with the Santa Barbara County Sheriff's Department announced the arrest of her mother on unrelated charges.

Ashlee Buzzard, 40, was arrested on Friday for false imprisonment. "Although this arrest occurred during the course of the missing person investigation, it is not directly related to Melodee's disappearance," the sheriff's department wrote in a news release.

Detectives learned of a recent incident where Ashlee allegedly prevented a victim from leaving a location against their will, leading to the false imprisonment arrest.

Melodee was first reported missing by staff from the Lompoc Unified School District on Oct. 14. They said she had not been seen since August, according to the Santa Barbara County Sheriff's

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