FARMINGTON, Maine — A Lewiston man and a 15-year-old girl, who was reported missing from her foster home in New Sharon on June 12, were taken into custody Wednesday night in Portland, Franklin County Sheriff Lt. Niles Yeaton said in a release Thursday.
Opal Swearingen was traveling and having a relationship with Charles Fontenot, 30, according to Sun Journal archives.
The U.S. Marshals Service took the two into custody in Portland.
Swearingen has been returned to the custody of the Maine Department of Health and Human Services, Yeaton said.
Fontenot was interviewed by Franklin County Sheriff Detective David St. Laurent and Maine State Police Detective Randy Keaten. He was transferred from the Cumberland County Jail to the Franklin County jail in Farmington Thursday.
Fontenot was arrested on charges of sexual abuse of a minor and criminal restraint, Yeaton said.
A felony warrant for those charges was previously issued. The legal age of consent in Maine is 16.
Fontenot’s bail had not been set as of 3:30 p.m. Thursday. He is expected to appear in a Farmington court on Friday.
St. Laurent previously said that Fontenot refused to return the girl to her home.
Swearingen has family ties in the Lewiston-Auburn area where she lived before she and one of her siblings were placed in a state-recognized foster home in Franklin County.
She left home with Fontenot willingly and left a note with a brother about her plans, according to the Sun Journal archives.
“No other details are available, at this time,” Yeaton said in releases Thursday. “We wish to thank all the law enforcement agencies that assisted in the safe return of Opal. We also thank the National Center For Missing And Exploited Children for their prompt response to getting the information public.”
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Someone needs to investigate this much further. A 15 year old doesnt just run away with someone that looks like this guy unless she somehow thinks it is a better situation than the one she is in. Please help this young lady. She has obviously had to deal with some very difficult times in her young life.
15 year old girls from broken homes want to find a place where they believe they are loved and feel special and protected. Attention from an older man fills that need. Shame on him for taking advantage of her.
What is wrong with what this guy looks like. He looks sad & lost to me. Who knows what his story is that would lead him to make this poor choice.
My grandfather was 15 years older than my grandmother and I never thought it was a crime. That being said , how old did this foster child tell him she was ? Will this get to court before she turns 16 and is able to consent or will they break up and she , in spite , claim she was kidnapped or raped ?
My grandfather was 15 years older than my grandmother as well. She was 15 and he was 30 when they got married. That was in 1918. They were together until his death in 1963. She never remarried and died in 1980 still happy with the choice she made all those years ago.
15 will get ya 20
with 19 1/2 suspended
Really a sad situation. For what reason she is not with her biological parents, I do not know, but she is searching for that love, nurturing & feeling that she means something to someone. When your parents don’t love you enough, don’t feel that you are worth enough to do what needs to be done to keep you, then who the hell is going to love you. That is what these kids must feel & it is heartbreaking. The guy should have known better, but who knows what his story is.
Fireball Run’s Race to Recover America’s Missing Children is raising awareness and searching for Opal Swearingen. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OkQD3ky5VKI