GENESEE COUNTY (WWJ) -- A Florida man is waiting to face a judge after he allegedly sexually assaulted a 12-year-old Flint girl.
Genesee County Sheriff Chris Swanson is calling the West Palm Beach man a "serial rapist," saying in a Facebook live video on Thursday night that the man used Instagram to groom the little girl.
Swanson said that the 22-year-old suspect flew from Florida to Michigan, rented a car in Detroit, drove up to Flint and picked the little girl up from a church parking lot where he convinced her to wait.
After picking her up, authorities said he took the girl to a hotel room in Mt. Morris Township and sexually assaulted her before leaving and going home to Florida the next day.
The sheriff’s office learned of this incident after the victim was taken to Hurley Medical Center for treatment, Swanson said.
The man was arrested following an investigation by the Genesee Human Oppression Strike Team (GHOST).
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He is now facing 12 felony counts, including four counts of first-degree criminal sexual conduct and other charges relating to his alleged use of a computer to commit a crime -- and his alleged possession of child pornography, said officials.
The sheriff added that the man's phones and forensic downloads have revealed there likely is more evidence that could lead to additional charges.
He faces the possibility of serving up to life or any term of years in prison, but not less than 25 years.
In the Facebook Live video, Swanson announced the man’s arrest late and even greeted him as he arrived at Detroit Metro Airport in handcuffs.
"It doesn’t matter where people are, it doesn’t matter where they live,” Swanson said in the video. “They come into this county of Genesee, and they assault, sexually abuse, they traffic -- they do whatever they need to do, whatever they want to do, thinking they’re going to get away with it.”
Members of GHOST were then assigned to the case, Swanson said, working with departments in Florida -- such as, West Palm Beach, Hollywood and Broward County.
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The suspect was identified on Sunday by two GHOST members who traveled to Florida to find him. They then followed him to a PNC Bank where he was taken into custody and eventually extradited to Michigan.
Swanson said upon taking the man into custody, they learned that the little girl in Flint wasn't his only victim. The suspect also is accused of having sex with two other minors in the last 10 days.
Swanson said he had flown to Washington and allegedly assaulted a 16-year-old girl and had also traveled to Oregon and assaulted a 14-year-old.
The suspect is not being identified because he has not been arraigned.
"The individual that was assaulted at 12-years-old was groomed and convinced that he would pay her through a cryptocurrency on a gaming and a chat app,” Swanson said. “That was the start of this conversation, and he took advantage of her naive background -- the fact that she was young -- and came up here facilitated that crime.”
