A New York City man wanted for raping a 10-year-old girl earlier this month after meeting her online has been arrested and charged.
Drequan Drayton-Howard, 23, gave himself up to law enforcement on Wednesday and was charged with rape, sex abuse and endangering the welfare of a child.
Drayton-Howard, of the Bronx, met the girl on January 6 after they connected online via an adult dating app, police previously told Fox News Digital. Fox 5 reports that Drayton-Howard used the Bumble app to lure his victim.
Drequan Drayton-Howard, 23, gave himself up to law enforcement on Wednesday and was charged with rape, sex abuse and endangering the welfare of a child. (Barry Williams for NY Daily News via Getty Images)
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The suspect then took the victim back to the apartment where she lives in the vicinity of Third Avenue and East 122nd Street in Harlem, where he raped her, police said.
The victim’s mother was out at the time of the alleged rape, according to local reports. As the victim’s mother arrived home, she reportedly encountered the suspect, who fled.
The victim was taken by EMS to a local hospital in stable condition for evaluation.
Drayton-Howard was walked out of the 25th Precinct yesterday. (Barry Williams for NY Daily News via Getty Images)
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The NYPD posted several images of Drayton-Howard on social media last week and asked for the public’s help in tracking him down. Drayton-Howard, who was not named in the initial appeal, could be seen in the photos wearing a durag and a navy-colored hoodie with “Nautica” emblazoned across the front.
Alpheaus Marcus, a community activist, told Fox 5 that he was happy that Drayton-Howard had been apprehended.
CCTV images of Drequan Drayton-Howard, 23, who gave himself up to law enforcement on Wednesday and was charged with rape, sex abuse, and endangering the welfare of a child. (Google Maps)
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“I’m glad that the community came out, spoke up, and got this guy off the streets,” Marcus said.
“We need more parents involved with their children, because at the end of the day, there are predators out there on the internet and if we are not monitoring what they do on the internet this could happen again so we want to stop this. We want to . . . prevent it from knocking on someone else’s door.”
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