A 12-year-old girl aided in the arrest of a suspected child trafficker.
According to the Fond du Lac County Sheriff Ryan Waldschmidt, deputies were dispatched to a residence in the rural town of Oakfield just after midnight on May 19th after the girl showed up on their doorstep.
The girl told deputies that she had fled from a vehicle where an adult man had bound and blindfolded her and was attempting to sexually assault her.
However, the girl showed incredible bravery by fighting back, breaking free, and fleeing to the home.
The girl’s testimony led police to the suspect’s home, and SWAT teams from the Sheriff’s Office and Fond du Lac Police Department converged on the residence on Marquette Street in Fond du Lac Monday evening.
The suspect, a 30 or 31-year-old Nicaraguan man residing in the U.S. illegally, was taken into custody without incident. Sheriff Waldschmidt called the investigation “complex” but said it could lead to charges including “sexual assault of a child, false imprisonment, child human trafficking, failure to protect a child, and others.”
The victim’s mother is also facing charges, as she allegedly was paid by the man so he could spend time with the child.
Detectives are still working to determine the immigration status of the victim’s mother.
The juvenile victim and her siblings have all safely been taken into protective custody by the Fond du Lac County Human Services.
