Authorities say they have charged and detained a man for raping a 10-year-old girl in East Harlem earlier this month after meeting her online.
On Wednesday, 23-year-old Bronx resident Drequan Drayton-Howard turned himself in to the police.
It is said that Drayton-Howard connected with the victim on the social media platform Bumble.
On January 6, according to the authorities, he picked up the victim and brought her to an apartment close to Third Avenue and East 122nd Street.
Drayton-Howard faces charges of sexual assault, rape, and jeopardizing a child’s welfare.
Community activist Alpheaus Marcus stated, “I’m glad that the community came out, spoke up, and got this guy off the streets. 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 stop it where – prevent it from knocking on someone else’s door”
After being brought to a hospital, the victim received care and was later released.
