Indiana

2 Face Charges After Missing Indiana Teen Found in Ohio: Prosecutors

At least two men are facing charges after a 14-year-old girl who disappeared from her northwest Indiana home was found in Ohio on Tuesday, according to prosecutors. 

Eric Ho, 25, was charged with rape and Bryan Otero, 27, was charged with complicity to rape, Darren Miller, chief felony assistant prosecutor for Clermont County, said Wednesday. 

According to an affidavit filed Tuesday, authorities alleged Ho admitted to engaging in sexual conduct with the teen while Otero "observed the act." 

The two were among three people arrested in the case that same day. 

The 14-year-old girl was located in Cincinnati Tuesday and taken to a local hospital for "medical evaluation," the Lake County Sheriff's Office said in a release. Her family was notified and was en route to pick her up from the hospital, authorities added.

The girl was discovered at a residence with two men, four days after she was reported missing, according to the sheriff's office. Those men were subsequently taken into custody by the FBI. Another man who allegedly drove the girl from her home in Indiana to Ohio was arrested in Kansas, police said. 

According to the FBI, the girl first met the man in Kansas via an app called KIK. 

Further information on the case wasn't immediately available but authorities thanked the public for the many tips they received in the investigation, which remains ongoing. 

The teen girl had disappeared from her home in rural Lake County in northwest Indiana on Thursday night. 

The Lake County Sheriff’s Department said officers were called to the home just before 1 a.m. Friday in the 1100 block of E. Highway 330 for reports of a possible runaway juvenile. 

Her family said it was very out of character for the young honor student to disappear without a word. Some family members believed she may have been abducted by a man she met online. 

"In all her school years she's done very well," said her uncle Erick Kind. "This is a good student. Something totally unexpected. Not in her character at all." 

Authorities said they were following the potential lead that she may have been in communication with someone online and were checking her computer and belongings. 

"There's not an Amber Alert because we haven't identified an actual individual who she may have been communicating with," Lake County Sheriff John Buncich told NBC 5 via phone Monday night. 

"I just want her to come home," her mother Valeria King said Monday. "We miss you so much." 

Her family added she had a lot to look forward to, including starting high school and an upcoming trip to Orlando. 

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