A man has been arrested in connection with a case involving a severely mentally disabled 16-year-old girl who went missing from an Oakland group home last week. The girl was found badly beaten and possibly sexually assaulted two days later on a Muni bus in San Francisco.
The suspect has not yet been charged, but the Oakland Tribune reports he is a 36-year-old man with a criminal record. He is expected to be charged later today in Alameda County.
On the evening of November 27th, the girl went missing from the Fred Finch Youth Center, a home for teens with developmental disabilities in East Oakland where she had been living for the past six months. According to her mother, this was the third time she had run away, but by law the home cannot be locked. Staff members from the home followed her to the Fruitvale BART Station, where they lost track of her. Her parents were not notified that their daughter, who has the mental capacity of a 7-year-old, had been missing until around 9:30 a.m. the next morning. On the 29th, a Muni operator found the girl on a bus, where it was apparent her assaulter had tried to strangle her. Her family believes her attacker also sexually assaulted the girl, but police have yet to confirm that.
"I'm so glad they found this guy," the girl's father told the Tribune. "I'm hoping this guy goes to prison for the rest of his life." The girl is now in stable condition in Washington with her mother.
The California Department of Social Services is also investigating the incident.
ABC7 has the video report:
Previously: Help Find This Mentally-Disabled Missing Teen
[Oakland Tribune]
