A 48-year-old Cobb County man told investigators he didn’t know the address of his Marietta home. But police say he knew the girl he was exchanging messages with was 14 years old.
On Thursday, Luis Borja Mederos was in the Carroll County jail, charged with child molestation and statutory rape, according to Carrollton police. Mederos was arrested Monday after an investigation lasting several weeks.
Mederos met the teenager, whose name was not released, earlier this year at the West Georgia Flea Market, police said Thursday.
“The two continued communicating via social media for several months,” Carrollton police said in a news release. “In August 2020, Mederos came to Carrollton for the purpose of engaging in sexual intercourse with the victim whom he knew to be 14 years old.”
The girl was gone for several hours before telling family members about meeting Mederos, police said. Mederos gave the teen a fake name, making it more difficult to track him down.
But the teenager was able to provide investigators with a description of the man’s car, a location where the two were, and a time frame, police said. Through video surveillance, cellphone information, social media and a license plate reader, a Carrollton detective was able to identify Mederos. Several other law enforcement agencies assisted with the investigation.
On Monday, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security assisted with arresting Mederos. He was being held without bond Thursday.
Mederos lives in Marietta, but was unable to provide his address, jail records show.
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