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A 30-year-old Michigan man and convicted sex offender has been charged with kidnapping and raping a 14-year-old Washington State girl after ‘grooming her online for months.’
Keith Freerksen was arrested on Wednesday at his home in South Haven, Michigan, where the missing girl was found three weeks after vanishing, according to the authorities.
He was arraigned on Friday on nine felony charges including human trafficking of a minor for commercial sexual activity, criminal sexual conduct in the first-degree, accosting a child for immoral purpose and using a computer to commit a crime.
He is currently being held in Van Buren County Jail. The judge denied him bond after the court deemed him a flight risk and possible danger to the public, WWMT News reported.
Freerksen faces life in prison if convicted on criminal sexual conduct in the first-degree. The other felony charges can carry sentences of between four and 20 years.
He was previously convicted in 2017 on 10 felony charges of child pornography in Florida, according to the Michigan Sex Offender Registry.
Pictured: Keith Freerksen, 30, was arraigned on Friday on nine felony charges including human trafficking of a minor for commercial sexual activity, criminal sexual conduct in the first-degree, accosting a child for immoral purpose and using a computer to commit a crime
The South Haven, Michigan home where the 14-year-old girl was kept for nearly three weeks before she was located by the authorities
Freerksen appeared in a South Haven courtroom via video where he was arraigned.
The Assistant Prosecutor Rachel Keeley told the judge Freerksen is ‘an extreme risk to the public.’
‘This individual is a convicted sex offender who groomed a 14-year-old girl online for a significant period of time.
‘He then took it upon himself to travel across the country, take this 14-year-old from her home state of Washington, and kept her here in Van Buren County for roughly three weeks.’
Before his arraignment, Van Buren County Sheriff Dan Abbott and County Prosecutor Susan Zuiderveen held a news conference on Friday afternoon.
Abbott said they identified the suspect’s vehicle and waited for it to return to the property before executing the search warrant.
Abbott said that Freerksen had spoken to the victim online ‘over an extended period of time,’ before she took a ride share to the suspect’s Michigan home.
The young girl was later found at Freerksen’s home, where he lived with his father, cops said.
Sarah Merill, the girl’s mother, spoke at the press conference and expressed her gratitude to law enforcement for locating her daughter.
‘I get to bring my daughter home,’ she said. ‘The past three weeks have been nothing short of a nightmare and one I hope no other parent has to experience.’
The teen was last seen on January 5 leaving her home in Mount Vernon, a city in Washington State, before she vanished.
Authorities said that based on the evidence collected the teen had traveled across multiple states.
The Mount Vernon Police Department (MVPD) received information on the suspect’s identity, who was publicly referred to as ‘Keith.’
They learned during their investigation that Jones may have potentially used a rideshare service, and were able to narrow their search and locate a particular ride Jones may have used.
Investigators were then able to identify a man named ‘Keith’ who ordered a ride-share with a South Haven, Michigan address.
The search for the teen involved multiple jurisdictions including federal, state and local law enforcement.
Last week, the missing girl’s mother told DailyMail.com she believed her daughter was talking to an older man online who was possibly in their 30s.
For nearly three weeks Merill frantically searched for her daughter who left home without her cell phone and laptop.
Fearing for her daughter’s safety, Merill could not bear to think of the nearby I-5 Corridor which she says is ‘the most heavily sex trafficked route in the world.’
‘We live in between Portland and Vancouver, BC near the I-5 Corridor, the most heavily sex trafficked route in the world.
‘It is the highway that runs from Canada to Mexico – there are ports all over. I live an hour from the border.’
The mom said that when she first learned her daughter was talking to an older man she took away her phone and set up the parental controls giving her limited access.
But she said when her daughter found the phone she was still able to send messages using the TextNow app.
He was previously convicted in 2017 on 10 felony charges of child pornography in Florida , according to the Michigan Sex Offender Registry
A Facebook photo of Freerksen from May 2013
Merill said she filed a missing person’s report on January 6 with Mount Vernon PD after she went to wake her child up for breakfast and found her room empty, with the window open.
A note was left behind telling her mom she loved her but had to go. The teen had also left her cell phone, house keys and computer at home but taken her electric toothbrush, blowdryer and her yarn and crocheting needles.
Merill said when she spoke to her daughter’s friends many gave conflicting information but all knew she was talking to an older man online named Keith.
Her friends told Merrill she had she been talking to him since October and that ‘she trusted him.’
She told DailyMail.com she thought daughter was being groomed over the last few months and was being held against her will.
She said tips came in from all over and that investigators had been to two different apartments and pulled over a bus while looking for her.
