For three months, a Cobb County college student communicated with a 13-year-old girl he met online, according to police.
Then on May 2, Joshua Measroch allegedly took the relationship further. The 21-year-old allegedly drove 50 miles from his east Cobb home to pick up the girl at her Newton County home, according to an arrest warrant obtained by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Measroch then took the girl back to Cobb County, where he kept her for more than a month in a room, police said.
“The accused engaged in various indecent acts with the child,” the warrant states.
The girl was initially believed to be a runaway because many of her personal items were missing from her Covington home, police previously said. Police also said the girl was a frequent user of social media sites at the time of her disappearance.
The girl’s parents assisted police with finding her, according to Deputy Cortney Morrison with the Newton County Sheriff’s Office.
Measroch was arrested Friday and booked into the Cobb County jail, where he was being held Monday night without bond, booking records show.
He was charged with rape, aggravated child molestation, child molestation, enticing a child for indecent purpose — all felonies — and interference with custody, a misdemeanor charge, jail records show. He is also facing charges in Newton County, Morrison said.
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