A 32-year-old man was arrested on multiple charges after a Pennsylvania teenage girl who was reported missing nearly a year ago was found alive at his North Carolina home, authorities said.
Police in High Point found the 15-year-old victim Monday afternoon after they received information that she may have been living in the Treyburn Lane home, the police department said on Facebook.
The girl was reported missing from Reading, Pennsylvania, in June 2024, court documents say. Reading police did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Joseph A. Rossomando was arrested after authorities executed a search warrant at the home and found that he was in possession of child sexual abuse material, the news release says.
He was booked at the Guilford County Jail on charges of statutory sex offense with a child under the age of 15, statutory rape of a child under the age of 15, felony human trafficking of a child victim, felony sexual servitude of a child victim, felony second-degree sexual exploitation of a minor, felony statutory rape, felony first-degree kidnapping and contributing to the delinquency of a minor.
Neighbors told NBC affiliate WXII of Winston-Salem that they were shocked.
“It makes you want to get to know your neighbors a little better just to protect each other and be on the lookout for stuff like that,” a neighbor said.
“It’s shocking, it’s disturbing. Again, it just makes you want to know more about what’s going on around you,” the neighbor said.
Minyvonne Burke is a senior breaking news reporter for NBC News.
Josh Cradduck
contributed
.
