Uncle Of Missing Vt. Girl Arrested

(AP)  Vermont State Police said Sunday the uncle of a missing 12-year-old girl - one of the last people to see her before she vanished - has been arrested on unrelated sex charges.

Michael Jacques, 42, of Randolph, who dropped off Brooke Bennett at a convenience store Wednesday and was seen leaving it in a different direction on a surveillance camera video, was charged with aggravated sexual assault against a minor. The alleged victim wasn't Bennett, who remained missing Sunday, despite an intensive search by state police, the FBI and other agencies.

Jacques, who is married to Bennett's mother's sister, is listed on Vermont sex offender registry. He was convicted of sexual assault and kidnapping in 1993.

The arrest came as the result of information uncovered by investigators assigned to the disappearance.

Jacques was being held at the Southern State Correctional Facility in Springfield, pending an arraignment Monday. If convicted, he could get 10 years to life in prison.

Police said Jacques and a cousin of Brooke's dropped the girl at Cumberland Farms in Randolph about 9 a.m. Wednesday. On the video, which was released Friday, Jacques and Brooke are seen in the store, where Jacques makes a purchase with Brooke at his side. They walk out together, then part ways. She was seen about 45 minutes later inside a coin laundry, police said.

Her grandmother reported Bennett missing 12 hours later, and on Thursday an Amber Alert - the first in Vermont history - was issued for Brooke.

Police have said they believe Brooke may have been headed to meet someone with whom she had been communicating online. On Friday, Vermont State Police director Col. James Baker said the investigation centered on contacts Brooke made on the MySpace.com social networking site.

No suspects have been named in her disappearance.

[credibility2]

Why does the CBS filter treat a legitimate word like s-e-x as something profane and offensive and asterisks it out? They really need to do something about this; it''s annoying and idiotic!

[credibility2]

This isn''t a post about Fox News or Israel, so you nitwits should just stick to the topic. On topic: this is another example of child *** offenders being allowed to live as if they''re human beings. This is also another example of social network websites doing more harm than good and serving absolutely no redeeming or uplifting purpose. Losers cling to these types of websites because they have nothing to rely on that is substantive within their own lives, and this also goes back to lax and dysfunctional parents who give too much of the wrong stuff to their kids, like mySpace and Facebook, instead of having character and spine to raise their kids lovingly, with moral guidance and respectable direction.

[mediamomma]

RingaDing i would have to agree w/u on that one. i just found out some awful news that a convicted *** offender who has not finished his 10 yr reporting does not have report for some reason. the state will not tell me why and i have every right to know since my daughter was the victim. i''m po''d as all h*ll & want answers. as for brooke - the news last nite said they were looking @ the uncle now because of some child s*x ring he had going on & they were looking into seeing if she was part of it. nice. & it''s not just vt that lets offenders get away w/it. it''s a lot of states. pedophiles need to be taken out of the equation as soon as they commit the crime.

[ringading3]

Vermont caters to child molesters and refuses to pass laws to keep them away from children!

[nothappyatall]

Amazingly lousy parents let this family member with a conviction for kidnapping and sexual assault near this kid!
Crazy, goes for a drive with a convicted *** offender to meet a stranger from myspace who was probably a pedo and killed her.

Hello, PARENTS aint doing their job!

[l8c6]

In fact, they are statistically more apt to be let loose in this part of the country. I assure you, judges in New England are more liberal than your Texas and Florida ones.

Posted by jackie0428

The south has earned it''s reputation. Maybe the rest of the country will join the right wing oligarchs and cut your neck of the woods out and see how long y''all can live without life support.

[aztecdakota]

There are some of us, who keep secrets about other family members, for reasons the paverattzie can never get their name spelled correctly, enough said. When they get back to becomeing "top notch" news reporters, maybe just ONE or TWO, might rise above the others. Hello Edward R Morrow, Hello Ernie Pyle. Hello Princess D''s tunnel chasers, see the difference?

[jackie0428]

Contrary to what many CBS liberal South-haters would have you beleive, you don''t have to go down to Florida or the deep South to find these sick freaks. They are all over, including liberal Vermont.
In fact, they are statistically more apt to be let loose in this part of the country. I assure you, judges in New England are more liberal than your Texas and Florida ones.

[sandycat2]

I read in another article that this man was let on bail. Why would a judge let this monster out on bail. Why is our country failing to protect its children. I''m disgusted.

[lambofgoth]

His previous victim was also a relative... This guy is just an unimaginable monster.