An active duty US Marine is accused of flying from Louisiana to Florida to have sex with a 14-year-old girl he met online.
The West Melbourne Police Department said that Sean Rudziewicz, 22, met the girl on the app Omegle and continued the relationship on Snapchat and Discord. On January 16, he flew from Louisiana, where he was stationed, to Melbourne International Airport to celebrate his upcoming birthday and spend time with the girl.
The two went to the movies, the mall, and the beach, police said. On January 25, the girl’s mother reported her missing. She went through messages on her daughter’s phone and learned who she was with.
Melbourne Police officers found Rudziewicz at America’s Best Value Inn. He said he knew the girl but denied knowing where she was, according to an arrest affidavit obtained by Law & Crime.
According to that document, Rudziewicz said the two met online and that the girl asked him to come to Florida. He also said she told him she was 18. Rudziewicz told detectives he brought her there on January 21 and that they had sex on at least one occasion.
Rudziewicz said he’d last seen the girl earlier that day at a mall, but when detectives showed him hotel surveillance footage that showed the girl entering his hotel room, he admitted he did know where she was and pointed under the bed. The officer called for her to come out, and she did.
Melbourne police charged him with interference with child custody, and West Melbourne Police charged him with lewd and lascivious battery. He’s being held at the Brevard County Jail on a $70,000 bond, West Melbourne police said.
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[Featured image: Sean Rudziewicz/West Melbourne Police Department]