Missing 13 year old female from Bemidji located

A 21 year old male from Oswego, Illinois is currently being held in the Beltrami County Jail for the premiere criminal charges of Third Degree Criminal Sexual Conduct and Deprivation of Custodial or Parental rights. The investigation and subsequent arrest started with a parent contacting the Beltrami County Sheriff’s Office on Tuesday, November 7, 2018 at approximately 9:00 AM.

The Beltrami County Sheriff’s Office received a report from the parents of the missing 13 year old girl reporting that she was missing from their Bemidji area residence. The child was discovered missing when a parent went to transport the child to school in the morning. The parents found that the child was not at home nor had she reported to school or had she rode the school bus that morning to school. Other recent strange or suspicious behavior by the child, combined with a report from the neighbor witnessing someone standing in the wood line to the child’s home 2 days earlier added to their concern and prompted an immediate call to the Beltrami County Sheriff’s Office.

The subsequent investigation revealed that the child may have left with an adult male that she had met through social media websites. The watchful neighbor was able to obtain a license plate number and description of the vehicle, a late model, white Jeep Wrangler, that had been parked nearby the residence when he had observed and confronted the subject 2 days earlier. Through this information, Deputies and Investigators from the Beltrami County Sheriff’s Office were able to identify this subject as Chris Morales, age 21, of Oswego, Illinois.

Further investigation revealed that Morales, and the 13 year old missing female may have traveled to the Twin City metro area earlier that day.

With the assistance of the Bloomington Police Department, Minneapolis Police Department and Agents from the Minnesota Bureau of Investigation, Morales and the 13 year old Bemidji girl were located in Minneapolis.

Morales was arrested without incident and is currently being held in the Beltrami County jail pending formal review of criminal charges by the Beltrami County Attorney’s Office.

Ernie Beitel, Chief Deputy Sheriff

Beltrami County Sheriff’s Office