BATON ROUGE, LA – A Louisiana man is now facing a felony charge in connection to a 12-year-old girl who went missing and was later found following the issuance of an Amber Alert.
Ariel Anderson, 26, is charged with kidnapping in Harris County, the Harris County District Attorney’s Office confirms.
Anderson appeared in a Baton Rouge courtroom on a different charge Wednesday, one day after being taken into custody.
Anderson was given a $5,000 bond on a charge of contributing to the delinquency of a minor, according to Baton Rouge TV station WAFB. He will not be released on his own recognizance and WAFB reports the judge said she would allow someone to come and sign him out of jail.
The judge set a condition that Anderson cannot travel outside the state of Louisiana and can have no contact with the 12-year-old.
However, the Harris County District Attorney’s Office tells KPRC 2′s Deven Clarke once Anderson gets out of jail, he will have to face the charge in Harris County.
Anderson worked with the Louisiana Department of Public Safety and Corrections at the Allen Correctional Center and Elayn Hunt Correctional Center before his arrest. A spokesperson for the agency said Anderson “separated” from his employer Tuesday, according to WAFB.
The family of the girl released a statement upon learning Anderson had worked at a correctional center:
“The fact that he holds a position of trust it’s extremely alarming. How can our baby girl ever trust anyone in uniform again? Makes us wonder if he used that to lure other young girls. He was in a position of power and respect.”
Family members said the girl left her home in her mother’s SUV early Monday morning and went to a hotel on Little York in North Harris County. She met a man who shortly afterwards abducted her and took her to Louisiana.
The family said they found out the girl’s money card was used at a motel in Baton Rouge where the man is from. He eventually brought her back to Houston and dropped her off on Aldine Mail Route Road before heading back to Louisiana, where he was pulled over and taken into custody.
A probable cause form also reveal what Anderson told Louisiana deputies once he was in custody.
The form says Anderson gave several conflicting statements, initially denying he had seen or known the girl. When deputies showed him surveillance video of her taken at the Houston hotel, Anderson then confirmed he knew her.
Anderson, according to the form, told deputies he saw the girl in the hotel parking lot, but denied knowing her prior to that time. He told deputies the girl followed him to his hotel room where, after a few hours, she told Anderson she wanted to see Louisiana, according to the form.
She left her purse and phone at the hotel and got in a vehicle with Anderson and the two traveled to Louisiana.
The form says Anderson told deputies the two ran a few errands and went to his apartment. He said he later drove back to Houston after learning from friends he was featured in the news about a missing girl.
The form says Anderson stated he went to the hotel to gain information and to find out if the girl was there, but later recanted and said he returned the girl to Houston. Anderson told deputies the girl was 18 or 19.
Based on the statements Anderson gave, authorities were able to charge him with contributing to the delinquency of a minor. The girl was found later Tuesday at her home.