Share and Follow
A Pennsylvania man has been taken into custody after authorities discovered a missing teenage girl from Louisiana concealed in a basement box at a Pittsburgh residence.
In connection with the case, a man from New Orleans is also facing charges.
The 13-year-old, who hails from East Baton Rouge Parish, was initially reported missing earlier this month, as detailed by WAFB. At the time of her disappearance, witnesses last saw her at Baton Rouge’s Greyhound bus terminal.
The girl reportedly connected with 26-year-old Ki-Shawn Crumity through Snapchat. According to WTAE, Crumity allegedly promised to assist her in being adopted by a trusted adult. After traveling to Pittsburgh by Greyhound bus, a criminal complaint states that she, Crumity, and a woman shared a bed in the basement.
Over the course of approximately one week, the complaint alleges that Crumity supplied the girl with marijuana edibles and subjected her to daily sexual assaults.
Authorities in Louisiana began tracking the girl’s movements on October 24, WBRZ reported, and on Thursday, she was rescued and Crumity arrested.
The girl was found in box covered by a sheet in the basement, authorities said.
She told officials who took her to the hospital for an evaluation that being there was the safest she had ever felt.
“Very proud of my LBI agents in helping to locate this child. She was groomed, exploited, and then sexually abused by strangers who found her online. This is just one example of the dangers of social media and of human trafficking,” Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill said in a statement, WTAE said.
Crumity has been charged with trafficking in individuals, statutory sexual assault of a minor victim, involuntary deviate sexual intercourse, sexual assault and corruption of minors.
WAFB reported that 62-year-old Ronald Smith of New Orleans was arrested in Columbus, Georgia — one of the girl’s stops on her way to Pennsylvania — and charged with kidnapping and contributing to the delinquency of a juvenile.
The US Marshals Service said more arrests may be forthcoming.
