A 39-year-old Slidell man accused of paying a woman's rent in exchange for sex with her 14-year-old daughter was arrested, St. Tammany Sheriff's Office officials announced Tuesday.
The man, whose name is being withheld to protect the identity of the victim, was charged with felony carnal knowledge with a juvenile and contributing to the delinquency of a minor following his Feb. 7 arrest in Picayune, Miss., said Sheriff's Office spokesperson Tiffany Tate.
Earlier this week, the man was still listed as being wanted by the Sheriff's Office. Details of the arrest were unavailable Tuesday, Tate said, but authorities suspected the man was living in Texas, his home state.
Tate said charges arose while the man lived with the family and allegedly slept in the girl's bed for four months during the fall of 2004, said Tate. Throughout that period, according to the Sheriff's Office, the man paid rent in exchange for sexual relations with the teen.
Sheriff's Office spokes-person James Hartman said the 39-year-old man and the girl's 35-year-old mother were associates who viewed the arrangement as a business deal. When the girl revealed the arrangement to her father, who lived in a separate home, he contacted authorities who retrieved a warrant signed by Judge William Burris of the 22nd Judicial Court in Covington.
The girl's mother, 35, was arrested on Feb. 18 and charged with pandering, carnal knowledge of a juvenile, principal to the fact and contributing to the delinquency of a juvenile.
The mother remained in St. Tammany Parish jail in lieu of a $55,000 preset bond Tuesday. The male defendant was bonded out Feb. 9 on a minimum $25,000 preset bond, said Tate.
The 14-year-old girl was turned over to her father's custody at the time of her mother's arrest, said Hartman.
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