Queens Man Lured Teen Girl To Run Away With Him On Facebook

JAMAICA, QUEENS -- A Jamaica man faces was convicted on Monday of luring a teen girl he met on Facebook to run away with him and refusing to let her leave, prosecutors said.

Santiago Reyes, 31, now faces up to 25 years behind bars for kidnapping the then-15-year-old Canadian girl, who he manipulated into running away from her parents and having sex with him while she was on a family vacation to New York City. When the teen said she wanted to leave, Reyes told her there was no going back.

Reyes had led the teen girl to believe he was much younger when the two first met on Facebook months before the August 2014 incident, prosecutors said. The two chatted online for nine months, during which Reyes urged her to run away from her Toronto home after she complained her parents were too strict and that she was being bullied at her new school.

When the 15-year-old visited New York City, Reyes picked her up while her parents were out and took her to his house, where he had sex with her and afterward held her against her will, prosecutors said.

“While social media can be entertaining and informative, it can also be a very dangerous place for youngsters," said Queens District Attorney Richard Brown.

Following a trial that lasted nearly two weeks, Reyes was convicted of second-degree kidnapping and third-degree rape. He will be sentenced in Queens Supreme Court on Feb. 15.

Lead photo via Shutterstock.