Copyright New York Post
A missing 13-year-old Louisiana girl was found hidden in a box more than 1,000 miles away from home — having been repeatedly abused by a sex trafficker who tricked her into thinking she was being adopted, according to authorities. The teen had been reported missing from East Baton Rouge Parish on Oct. 20 before she was found Thursday inside a box covered by a sheet in the basement of a house in Pittsburgh. There, she was allegedly sexually abused repeatedly by Ki-Shawn Crumity, 26, after he plied her with booze and fed her marijuana edibles, according to a criminal complaint obtained by CBS News. Crumity had befriended her on Snapchat and persuaded her to travel more than 1,000 miles by bus on the cruel lie that she would be adopted by trusted adults, the complaint said. Instead, “she was groomed, exploited, and then sexually abused by strangers who found her online,” Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill said. “This is just one example of the dangers of social media and of human trafficking.” The girl has not been identified because of her age and the belief she is a victim of sex crimes. She was first abused the day she arrived at the house, and Crumity had sex with her “at least once or twice a day” during the week she was there, according to the complaint. She was forced to sleep in a bed in the basement with Crumity and an unidentified woman, the complaint said. Crumity allegedly told investigators that “he knew she was a runaway” and that “he would get in trouble.” She was finally rescued in a SWAT raid following a tip that she was there. Once she was taken to a hospital, she told police it was “the safest she ever felt,” according to the complaint. Crumity is charged with a slew of serious crimes, including sex trafficking, sexual assault and providing alcohol to a minor. He is being held without bail in the Allegheny County Jail. Another man, New Orleans native Ronald Smith, 62, was arrested in Columbus, Georgia, on charges of simple kidnapping and contributing to the delinquency of a juvenile for allegedly taking her on the first part of the journey, before putting her on a bus. Others are involved and likely to face charges, officials have said.
