Missing Louisiana girl, 13, found alive in box in Pennsylvania basement | Pennsylvania
A 13-year-old Louisiana girl who went missing after meeting a man online was found alive in a box in her Pennsylvania home several counties away, along with evidence of a sexual assault, according to authorities.
Ki-Shawn Crumity, 26, faces charges of human trafficking, sexual assault, unlawful contact with a minor and child corruption after police in Pittsburgh in question They arrested him on Thursday. He is one of at least three people arrested Saturday as part of an investigation involving law enforcement in multiple states.
“This child … was groomed, exploited, and then sexually abused by strangers who found her online,” said Liz Murrill, Louisiana’s attorney general. in question He said in a statement on Friday. “This is just one example of the dangers of social media and human trafficking.”
Authorities say the teenager at the center of the case disappeared from Louisiana last week after meeting Crumity through social media. Investigators said they tracked her across multiple states, and on Thursday, after receiving information from federal agents, Pittsburgh police found the girl trapped in a sheet-lined box in Crumity’s basement in the city’s Brighton Park neighborhood.
The Guardian’s newsgathering partner, WWL Louisiana, passed this information on to authorities, stating that the child had been hospitalized and that there was evidence of sexual assault.
Pittsburgh news outlet, citing a criminal complaint WTAE He reported that he spoke to investigators in detail about what happened to the girl. He allegedly said he contacted Crumity on the social media platform Snapchat and promised to help her get adopted by a trusted adult.
The child was able to take a Greyhound bus to Pittsburgh, and when they arrived at Crumity’s home, they slept in a bed in the basement with a third person, identified as a woman, the criminal complaint said.
She told investigators that Crumity gave the girl edibles (a term used to describe marijuana-infused food products) and sexually assaulted her repeatedly over the course of about a week, according to WTAE.
WTAE also said the criminal complaint quoted the girl as saying the hospital where she felt safest was where she was taken after authorities rescued her from Crumity’s basement.
Crumity was denied bail after being sent to a Pittsburgh jail, police there said.
Two more men were arrested in connection with the girl’s temporary disappearance.
Ronald Smith, 62, allegedly was with the girl in Columbus, Georgia, and is charged with contributing to the simple abduction and delinquency of a juvenile.
The third man, whose name has not yet been released, was arrested in New Orleans after allegedly confessing to being with the girl at a Greyhound bus terminal about 60 miles away in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
