A teenage girl who was reported missing was found Wednesday at the Santa Clarita home of a registered sex offender who had sexually assaulted her after befriending her days earlier, sheriff's deputies said.
The girl's parents reported her missing to the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department at 9:30 p.m. Tuesday when they didn't find her at home.
Investigators combed through the girl's phone records and called a number that was answered by the suspect, 26-year-old Kaene Dean.
"He denied knowing the whereabouts of the missing girl," sheriff's officials said in a news release.
But deputies pursued the lead and went to Dean's home before 2 a.m. Wednesday, where they were allowed inside by his parents, who also lived there, authorities said.
Deputies found the girl in the garage of the home, and he said she had been sexually assaulted at the home, police said.
Detectives said Dean's parents were unaware of the assault.
U.S. & World
Detectives said the two met at a bus stop Monday after she got out of summer school. She then met up with him at an Albertsons on Tuesday, before they went to his home.
Dean, who registered as a sex offender after being convicted of indecent exposure at the Glendale Galleria and was also on parole in a burglary case, was arrested. He was being held on $100,000 bail.
It's unclear if Dean has a lawyer.
