Man facing sexual abuse charges involving 15-year-old North Carolina girl
A 15-year-old North Carolina girl was rescued and a Green Oaks man faces several felony drug and sexual abuse charges, authorities said Thursday.
The U.S. Marshals Service on Tuesday learned a missing 15-year-old girl from Kannapolis, North Carolina, might be found at a home on the 31000 block of Prairie Ridge Road in Green Oaks, according to Lake County sheriff’s Deputy Chief Chris Covelli.
Homeland Security Investigations and the Lake County Sheriff’s Office were notified and an investigation produced evidence the girl was at the residence, Covelli said.
A search warrant was secured and the home put under surveillance.
Andrew W. Szech, 43, of that address was seen leaving with the girl about 4 p.m. Thursday and taken into custody, Covelli said.
Szech began communicating online with the girl in June and in early July encouraged her to take a bus to Chicago, Covelli said.
Szech picked the girl up at a bus station in Chicago and took her to his home in Green Oaks where she was sexually abused, according to Covelli.
A search of the home yielded a firearm; more than 2,700 grams of cannabis; nearly 30 grams of psilocybin-laced candy; more than 55 grams of psilocybin mushrooms; 27 cannabis plants; and more than 55 Adderall pills, Covelli said.
The Lake County state's attorney's office Children’s Advocacy Center assisted in the investigation, Covelli said.
Szech was charged with three counts of criminal sexual abuse; unlawful possession of psilocybin mushrooms with intent to deliver; and, unlawful possession of cannabis with intent to deliver, all class 1 felonies.
He also was charged with unlawful possession of cannabis and unlawful possession of Adderall with intent to deliver, class 2 felonies; aggravated battery, unlawful possession of cannabis plants, class 3 felonies; two counts of aggravated unlawful possession of a firearm, a class 4 felony; and, reckless conduct and aggravated assault, both misdemeanors.
Additional charges are expected, Covelli said.
A petition has been filed to detain Szech while awaiting trial. He is in the Lake County jail pending a court hearing Thursday morning.
The teen has been placed in care, Covelli said.