INDEPENDENCE, Ky. (WXIX) – A convicted sex offender from Columbus was arrested in Northern Kentucky early Monday with a missing 12-year-old girl.
Independence police arrested Deandre Byrdsong after finding him sleeping in a car with the girl at a Shell gas station carwash on Declaration Drive, according to Kenton County Commonwealth’s Attorney Rob Sanders.
“I’m sure it’s alarming for this little girl’s family to have the good news that she was found, but the bad news that she was with a convicted sex offender,” Sanders said.
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Discovery during patrol
Sanders said Independence police were conducting patrols when they noticed a car parked inside the carwash bay.
“They found two men with a 12-year-old girl,” Sanders said. “One of those men, Deandre Byrdsong, turns out to be a convicted sex offender.”
Sanders said Independence police investigators found the girl was missing from Columbus, where Byrdsong was previously convicted of unlawful conduct with a 15-year-old minor.
Byrdsong was found over 100 miles away from his registered address, Sanders said.
Charges and investigation
“Mr. Byrdsong engaged in a sexual relationship with the child,” Sanders said. “He’s facing charges of rape 2nd degree, and failure to comply with the sex offender registry.”
Byrdsong could be facing five to 10 years for each of the two charges.
Sanders said the third person found with Byrdsong and the child is not facing charges and is considered a witness. The police report states he heard Byrdsong having sexual contact with the child.
“We believe Mr. Byrdsong knew she was a 12-year-old child, and was actively trying to conceal the fact that this was a child he was with,” Sanders said.
Living situation and fake ID
Byrdsong has been registered as living in Columbus, but the police report states he has been homeless and not living at his address for several months.
Byrdsong told police he had been staying at the warming shelter on Gest Street and a tent in Kenton County.
Sanders said the child had an ID with her.
“The county’s specific purpose was not her obviously since she’s 12 years old was to allow her admission into that shelter, supposedly you have to be 18 years old to get in,” Sanders said.
This is an ongoing investigation.
Sanders asks anyone who may have seen Byrdsong and the child around Kenton County to contact the Independence Police Department.
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