A 27-year-old man in the U.S. Navy has been charged with transporting a 14-year-old Lafayette-area girl out of state with the intent to engage in sexual activity.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office in Lafayette announced on Friday that Sadiq Rauf Perry, a Naval serviceman based in Virginia, was charged on April 30 in the case.
The investigation began when a parent reported her 14-year-old daughter ran away from home. The mother found her daughter engaging in inappropriate communications with someone online who claimed to be 18 years old, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said in a news release.
The parent took the girl’s phone and grounded her and later realized the girl she had left.
Law enforcement officers discovered a rideshare service transported the girl to the airport where she boarded a flight to Norfolk, Virginia. Both the rideshare transport and the flight were paid for by Perry.
He also ensured the minor girl could board the flight unaccompanied by providing a fictitious birthdate falsely claiming she was old enough to travel alone, the release states.
Law enforcement obtained video surveillance showing the girl flew from Lafayette to Virginia where she was picked up by Perry in a vehicle registered to him.
Perry reportedly was tracked to a hotel where law enforcement agents found Perry and the minor girl sharing a room with one bed. The U.S. Attorney’s Office reported the girl later disclosed that she and Perry had sexual intercourse at the hotel.
The case is being investigated by the New Orleans and Norfolk field offices of the FBI, the Lafayette Parish Sheriff’s Office, the Naval Criminal Investigative Service and the Virginia Beach Police Department.