UNION TOWNSHIP, Ohio – Brandie Boone of Clermont County got disturbing news Wednesday about a horrible crime too close to home.
Two men had been holding a 14-year-old girl in a Union Township apartment. One has been charged with rape and the other with complicity to rape.
Now the FBI is trying to figure out if the men are part of a human trafficking operation.
It’s more than Boone wanted to think about.
"For it to be going on right below us and not even know it …" said Boone, who lived in the apartment above them.
The teen was found Tuesday at the East Pointe Apartments along with 25-year-old Eric Ho and 27-year-old Bryan Otero. The men had been living there for more than two months, Boone said.
The girl went missing from her home in Lake County, Indiana -- southeast of Chicago - late last week.
"I feel so bad that I didn't see her, that I couldn't say, 'Hey. Your little girl is here,’ Boone said. “I can't imagine what her mother is going through."
As bad as it was, it could have been much worse, said Detective Ken Mullis.
"We're very fortunate to have the outcome in this situation,” Mullis said
"One big thing that the children need to understand is just because you think they're someone they say they are, a majority of the time they're not and there's a reason they're hiding their true identity," the detective said.
It is critical for parents to know about their children's online habits, Mullis said.
"This is a good time to remind us as parents to be a little more vigilant and know who our kids are talking to.”
A third man who drove the teenager here is in custody in Kansas, authorities said. Ho and Otero will be bound over to federal court on Thursday.
