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Deputies say Statesville man accused of sex crimes with minor arrested again for targeting same victim

Jake Kelly was initially arrested in December and charged with several crimes including kidnapping, indecent liberties with a child, and dissemination of obscene material to a minor.

ROWAN COUNTY, N.C. — A Statesville man was arrested for sex crimes with a child for the second time in four months.

29-year-old Jake Kelly is facing new charges after detectives say he planned to meet up with the same victim for sex. The new charges come after Kelly was arrested in December, accused of kidnapping a runaway child from Rowan County. 

Investigators say after he was released on bond, he reached out to that same 14-year-old girl on social media.

Kelly was taken to jail again, after an undercover operation. Detectives say he thought he was meeting an underage girl, but they were waiting for him.

Authorities say Kelly was released on bond in February, after being charged with sex crimes involving the runaway child from Rowan County. Deputies eventually found her in Charlotte.   

RELATED: Man charged in connection with disappearance of Rowan County teen

Investigators believe she left her parents China Grove home and met up with Kelly at the time. Kelly was initially arrested in December and charged with several crimes including kidnapping, indecent liberties with a child, and dissemination of obscene material to a minor.

However, that was not the end of legal trouble for Kelly.   

Deputies say after he was released on bond, he contacted the child victim on social media. That’s when undercover detectives say they chatted with Kelly online, but investigators say he believed he was talking to the victim.   

According to authorities, he sent sexually explicit messages and then arranged to leave Statesville to meet the victim near China Grove. However, investigators say when the suspect arrived at a pre-designated meeting place, detectives were there and arrested him.  

He’s now facing additional charges including solicitation of a child by a computer.

State records show Kelly had been previously convicted on misdemeanor drug possession in 2010 and resisting an officer in 2014. Kelly’s bond has now been set at $100,000.

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