A 17-year-old girl reported missing from Houston, Texas, was found safe in Symmes Township on Wednesday, Nov. 5, and a 31-year-old Texas man who is a registered sex offender has been charged with bringing her to Ohio, according to the Hamilton County Sheriff’s Office, as reported by the Cincinnati Enquirer. Brandon McClerkin of Dallas was arrested after deputies responded to a concern about a female panhandler at a gas station on Montgomery Road, the sheriff’s office told the Cincinnati Enquirer; FOX19 reported the call involved a Speedway station in the township.
After investigating, deputies identified the teenager and learned she had been reported missing from Houston since Nov. 1, according to the sheriff’s office, as reported by the Cincinnati Enquirer. Deputies also determined that McClerkin is a registered sex offender. Texas records show McClerkin was convicted in 2022 of the attempted aggravated sexual assault of a 16-year-old girl, the Cincinnati Enquirer reported, citing Texas records.
McClerkin is charged with interference with custody and contributing to the delinquency of a minor, according to court records cited by the Cincinnati Enquirer. He was booked into the Hamilton County Justice Center and was scheduled to appear in court on Friday, Nov. 6, the Enquirer reported. The charges are allegations, and the case will move through Hamilton County court in the coming days.
“The juvenile will be reunited with her family as soon as the necessary arrangements can be made,” the Hamilton County Sheriff’s Office said in a release, as quoted by the Cincinnati Enquirer. NewsForce247 is not naming the teenager because she is a minor. How she came to be in Ohio with McClerkin, and how long the two had been in the Cincinnati area, had not been detailed by investigators in the reports available Friday.
The case began with a member of the public noticing something wrong. A caller reported concern about a young female panhandling at the Montgomery Road gas station, and that call led deputies to the missing teenager and to McClerkin, according to the sheriff’s office account reported by the Cincinnati Enquirer and FOX19. Officials have credited tips from the public in similar recovery cases across the region, and investigators have not said whether additional charges or additional jurisdictions could be involved.
What happens next is the court process. McClerkin’s scheduled Nov. 6 appearance is the first step in the Hamilton County case, where a judge will address the two charges filed so far and his custody status. The teenager’s return to her family in Texas will proceed on the arrangements the sheriff’s office described, and NewsForce247 will update this story if investigators release additional verified details about how the two traveled from Texas to Symmes Township.
Photo: Valereee, CC BY-SA 4.0