Man Accused of Raping Girl Behind Bars

Updated: Tuesday, 08 Dec 2009, 10:33 PM EST
Published : Tuesday, 08 Dec 2009, 10:33 PM EST

By SIMON SHAYKHET
myFOXDetroit.com

DETROIT (myFOXDetroit.com) - It took Detroit police 19 months to track him down, but the man accused of kidnapping and raping a little girl is behind bars.

Detroit police call it a major arrest. The man is charged with a dispicable crime of sexually assaulting a twelve-year-old girl.

35-year-old Lord Edward-Manwell Johnson faces a charge of kidnapping and five counts of sexual assault. He was hiding out since march of 2008 when police say he abducted a young girl from Caldwell and Luce.

He allegedly raped her, then dropped her off at another location from where she walked home.

"Someone who would forcably attack a twelve-year-old, until he's in custody, I mean, nobody's really safe," said Detroit Police Chief Warren Evans.

DNA evidence made it possible for an arrest warrant that got the attention of Adrian police on December fourth. They worked together with Detroit police, who set up surveillance on the east side.

"Kind of our break in the case is the Adrian, Michigan police department called, gave us some information about this guy and the fact that they thought he was hiding out there but had come back to the city of Detroit," Evans said.

Johnson is locked up on bond of $75,000. He also faces life in prison.

At the time he was arrested on Monday, there were other young children at the same place.

"It's really important to families. There's some degree of closure, and there's some degree of just out and out anger that people have that someone could commit a crime and not get caught," said Evans.

Now that his picture is on television, Detroit police investigators are hoping that any other possible victims will come forward.