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Salazar: Man arrested after sexually assaulting, harboring missing teen

From Oct. 1 to Nov. 4, BCSO has received 155 calls for missing persons.

SAN ANTONIO — Bexar County Sheriff Javier Salazar held a news conference Thursday afternoon.

A press release sent by BCSO said the sheriff would give updates on "recent high profile incidents" and developments with "publicized cases." 

The conference began at 3:45 p.m.

He began with a 15-year-old girl who was previously missing in late October, but has now been found. Sheriff Salazar said they will not be identifying the girl. However, the man who was harboring her was found at a home in northeast Bexar County. He is 22-years-old.

"The teen was just down the street from where she lived...and she was right under the nose of her family. They didn't even know this guy existed," said Sheriff Salazar.

A note was found with his name in her room because they had been talking online.

BCSO said he will also be charged with Sexual Assault of a Child. When authorities arrived, the suspect told deputies he did not know who they were talking about. However, another person in the house reportedly told BCSO the suspect was harboring the girl.

She is now with her family. "We certainly hope that she can get her life back together and get beyond what happened to her...we certainly hope she can try to find some normalcy moving forward," said Sheriff Salazar.

He also said from Oct. 1 to Nov. 4, BCSO has received 155 calls for missing persons, which includes both adults and children. At this same window of time last year, BCSO received 68 calls.

"All we can do is concentrate on raising awareness at this point," said Sheriff Salazar. He also said for those are sex trafficked, 2% have a chance of being found by authorities one trafficked. 

Sheriff Salazar also provided more details on another case where several people were arrested after $1.6 million of drugs were seized. $25,000 of profit from selling drugs is also included in that $1.6 million.

He said that undercover deputies were conducting an investigation. They were able to stop and arrest three suspects on Tuesday who were carrying 8 kilograms of cocaine that were to be delivered to an undercover deputy. The arrest took place in the 6300 block of Pecan Valley Drive.

On Wednesday, more arrests were made in relation to the same case. In total, 18 kilograms of cocaine, four kilograms of meth, and a half kilogram of fentanyl were recovered over the two-day investigation.

The last case Sheriff Salazar mentioned involved a carjacking that took place Monday on Potranco Road.

A man was held at gunpoint by a suspect who then stole the man's vehicle. The suspect then crashed the vehicle and ran. However, a person was able to take a photo of the suspect.

After releasing the suspect's photo to the public, a person reached out to BCSO saying they believed they were involved in an unrelated crime. BCSO was able to arrest the suspect.

He had an unrelated felony charge. BCSO was able to obtain a warrant and eventually charged the man with the aggravated robbery.

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