MEMPHIS, Tenn. (WREG) — A man pulled over in Poinsett County, Arkansas, for not having a license plate light was arrested and charged with sexual indecency with a child after deputies said they found a girl in his car being held against her will.
Brad Westbrook, 33, was also charged with felony sexual assault in the fourth degree and locked up on a cash-only $250,000 bond.
The Poinsett County Sheriff’s Office said he was pulled over on January 15 on Oak Street in Lepanto, Arkansas, and initially told them the girl in the car with him was his daughter.
The child was later identified as a missing person from Jonesboro. The girl told officers she had been asking Westbrook to take her home for the last three months, but he wouldn’t let her go.
She also told investigators Westbrook refused to allow her to make contact with her parents and that the two had been sexually active.
Deputies said Westbrook told them the girl did not want to stay at her home, and he thought it was okay to keep her.
They said Westbrook denied having sexual contact with the girl but admitted that the two had been living in his trailer in Crittenden County and that the juvenile had not seen her parents since August of last year.
It appeared the girl was never reported missing, but she was returned to her family.
Westbrook is scheduled to be arraigned in Poinsett County on February 22.