SEBASTIAN OSARIO--SUSPECT?

Update on Case:

NEWARK, N.J., A 19-year-old man who met and befriended a teen girl at a mall before she allegedly sent her mother text messages claiming that she had been abducted and held in a dark basement was charged today with having sexual contact with the 13-year-old.


Sebastian Osario, whose hometown was not immediately clear, was one of three young men questioned this week by Jersey City police investigating the disappearance of the girl. She failed to show up for school on Monday and sent her mother a series of chilling text messages on her cell phone, claiming she was being held and abused by captors.


Osario was referred to the Bergen County Prosecutor's office because of contact he had with the girl in Bergen County, said Sgt. Edgar Martinez, a Jersey City police spokesman. It was not immediately clear whether the alleged sexual contact was consensual.


Under New Jersey state law, a 13-year-old is incapable of granting legal consent to sex. Calls to prosecutors were not immediately returned.

Police Investigate Girl's Credibility

Police said the girl's claims of being abducted are "in doubt," but officials are continuing to probe the case. The girl also claimed she had been raped by two men in New York, an allegation New York City police are investigating. Osario's arrest was not related to the New York allegation, Martinez said.


The girl was questioned briefly by Jersey City detectives on Thursday and returned home from a New York hospital with her parents late in the day.


Jersey City police said the girl met Osario at the Newport Mall about three or four weeks ago. The two became friends and agreed to keep in touch via cell phone text messages, police said. The two met on Monday after she cut school, falsely telling a friend she had a doctor's appointment, police said. The two parted company Monday afternoon and police were trying to account for the girl' whereabouts over the following two days. The girl's cell phone battery died Monday, frustrating attempts to locate her or verify her movements since then.