Man arrested in Colorado on sexual exploitation charges after Aurora teen who went missing found in Las Vegas
A 14-year-old Aurora girl who had been missing for more than a week has been found and police say a 26-year-old man was arrested in Colorado in connection with her disappearance.
Aurora police said Christian Williamson was arrested in Grand County. He is now facing charges of internet sexual exploitation of a child and internet luring of a child. He's being held in the Grand County Jail.
Police say he gave investigators information that she was in Las Vegas, which is where she was found. CBS News Colorado is not identifying the girl due to her age and police wouldn't release information about her condition, other than to say she was found safe.
"This was a frightening and traumatic event for the victim and for everybody, quite frankly, who knows her; family, her schoolmates, her teachers, everyone who got involved and showed so much care and concern for her," Marc Paolino, commander of the Aurora Police Department's Investigations Bureau, said in a news conference on Thursday.
They say there is evidence that Williamson and the girl had been communicating for months, and they expect to add more charges as that investigation continues.
Police also say they are working with Las Vegas authorities on a possible suspect in that area.
Paolino said police received a 911 call about a missing girl on Monday, June 16.
Williamson picked the girl up from her Aurora home and took her to a hotel Lakewood that day, Paolino said. The following day, a second suspect, identified as Cameron Scruggs, drove from Las Vegas to Colorado, where Williamson handed the girl off to Scruggs.
Paolino said the investigation is ongoing, but that police recently learned that a woman came from Las Vegas to Colorado with Scruggs. On Wednesday, June 18, police started scouring the girl's social media accounts and released information to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, which released information and bulletins nationally.
Detectives found a journal belonging to the girl and found detailed plans of the girl's intention to run away, along with possible suspect names.
On Wednesday, June 24, Aurora officers, Kremmling police officers, and FBI agents contacted Williamson at his home in Kremmling, about 120 miles northwest of Aurora. He was arrested and gave information to detectives about Scruggs, Paolino said. Investigators believe Scruggs and Williamson know each other through online chat rooms but are still looking into their connection.
Aurora officers then told Las Vegas police and FBI agents out of the Las Vegas field office where they believed Scruggs was staying and law enforcement in Las Vegas began surveilling that area.
While returning home, Scruggs was arrested in Las Vegas, and the girl was found in his residence, Paolino said.
Scruggs is facing kidnapping charges in Colorado and charges of statutory sexual seduction by a person 21 or older in Nevada, where he's currently in custody.
Additional charges against Scruggs and Williamson are likely, Paolino said.
"Parents really, really need to be involved in all levels of their kids' lives, including in knowing what they're doing online and with their electronic devices, with their telephones, with their computers," Paolino said. "The entire world has access to your child through their electronic device and we need to remember that as parents."
He went on to say that he believes there could be other victims.
Seth Robertson, lieutenant of the Aurora Police Department Special Victims Section, said Scruggs and Williamson used a variety of common and popular online social media sites to communicate, including Discord and Reddit. He and Paolino stressed the importance of parents monitoring their kids' online activity.