LANCASTER – A 43-year-old Ohio man was arrested this week for sexually assaulting a 15-year-old Lancaster girl he met on facebook.
Michael Scheetz was charged Wednesday with five felony counts and is currently jailed on $1,275,000 bail. Details on how Scheetz met and allegedly assaulted the girl are outlined in the following press release from the Sheriff’s Department’s Special Victims Bureau.
On Sunday, September 30, 2012, the victim was reported to Lancaster Station as a missing person. During the course of the investigation into her disappearance, detectives from Lancaster Station obtained information that she had runaway from her residence for the purposes of meeting an adult male. Detectives also learned that the person the victim was meeting might already be in the Lancaster area.
On Monday, October 1, 2012, Lancaster Station detectives determined that the male, who the victim was going to meet was currently in Lancaster. The male was located and detained by deputies. During questioning, it was learned that the suspect was from Westerville, Ohio, and had recently been with the victim.
The suspect denied knowing the current whereabouts of the victim, but eventually led Sheriff’s Department Detectives to a desert field located east of 15th Street West in Lancaster, where the victim was found laying on the ground.
Detectives from the Sheriff’s Special Victims Bureau interviewed the victim and she said that she had been sexually assaulted by the suspect. The victim was taken to a local hospital and is in good condition.
The victim told detectives that she met the suspect via Facebook approximately six months ago. She developed an online relationship with the suspect and they communicated frequently via email.
Detectives further learned that on Friday, September 28, the suspect left Ohio and traveled to California, arriving on Sunday, September 30. He then met up with the victim at a business in Lancaster.
It was apparent that the suspect’s sole reason for traveling to California was to engage in sexual intercourse with the victim. Detectives determined that the suspect knew the victim’s age before he traveled to California, but it was not a deterrent.
Suspect Michael Scheetz, white Male, 43-years old, was arrested and booked at Lancaster Sheriff’s Station.
On Wednesday, October 3, the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office filed five felony counts against the suspect. He is currently in the custody of the Sheriff’s Department with bail set at $1,275,000.
Sheriff’s Special Victims Bureau detectives are continuing their investigation into this case.
If you have any information about this incident, contact Special Victims Bureau, Sergeant Hudson at 661-940-7850.
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lorie says
I was telling the story of how this could been prevent my post was the one before this or after so u will have to read it then this I will take off where I left off before it posted by it self. The home she was in needs to be held responsible because they was not paying attention to who she was talking to on Facebook or the phone she ended running a way from there because she was getting made fun of and fighting and she wanted to come home but the system is not how it should be she could have came home and delt with the fight here and not with her father girlfriend.where her mother could keep eye her and been there for her. Now she has to go thou all this by herself because the mother here in Florida and she don’t won’t to talk to her dad they our the reason she is there his girlfriend and her got in fight. Anyways she had to do 2 hours of testimony today with no one there for her to cry on there shoulders just don’t understand. She tried to kill herself today and they put her nut house and still they want let her talk to her mom which by the way is good hard working mother. All this could had been prevented this girls home should be sued. Just because this girl got in a fight she could not be with her mom dont make sence. To me but just so people get rt it was not Mom paying attention to her it was this girls home that let her talk to this men on Facebook and on the phone and did not pay attention to what she was doing on Facebook and let her sneak out to see this nasty man to get raped and left on the side of the road in the dirt so how much does this girl half to go thou before that let her go home ‘to mom. If this was my daughter I would Sue this home then Sue the state CA. I hope y’all see now it was not mom that let this happen this
but this damn home just did not keep good enough eye on her. Hopefully she can come home now please if you have kids they are never to old to keep a eye on Them who they talk to where they are going who there Friends are and what they are doing on Facebook. Thank u for listening to my story so u see she should be with mom. And please pray for her to get thou this and live a long happy life.
lorie says
Well I am very sad and angery this happened to such a good girl. Some people don’t the hole story so here a peace of it about this girl don’t want to put her name out there but I am very good friend with her mother jen and she is very good mom. What people don’t know is she did keep a very good eye on what her daughter did on Facebook and school also what friends she hang with, But her mother fell on hard times so she had to send her daughter to her dads in Lancaster for couple months and the girl ended up get in a fight with dads girl friend so she got sent to a girls home instand back with mom because the system is that messed her mother was just getting back on her feet and called talk to girls home and told them she wanted her daughter home. And they said not yet that the girl had to finish some programs there because of the fight so UT turns out to be this home was nit not keeping enough eye on her. The girl wanted to come home and mom wanted her the girl was having problems with kids there making fun of her she got into some fight to get rt down to it she should have been sent to her moms. And we could have gotten the help she needed. The home needs to take responsibility for
lorie says
I just want every one to know that this girl is a very good girl. I have been friends.with her mother jen for about 10yrs here in orange park florida and she is a very good mom. She has always keep track of what her daughter was doing on facebook and also very involved in her school and what friends she hang out with
Ali says
This is why parents need to keep an eye on their kids at all times while they are on the computer. We hear about this happening all the time. What happened to her is awful but thankfully she wasn’t hurt worse or killed.
libs says
Castration of these animals is the only answer.
sikntired says
They will still have hands unfortunately.
Father of Two Daughters says
I hope his fellow inmates give him a nice warm welcome to California.