Louisiana man charged with kidnapping a Monroe County teen

MONROE COUNTY, Miss. (WCBI) – An endangered/missing Monroe County teen is back home safe, and her suspected abductor is behind bars in Louisiana.

The 13-year-old was reported missing Saturday morning.

Sheriff Cecil Cantrell said Ronald Joseph Latiolais, 23, of Gonzales, Louisiana, abducted the teen from her home.

The sheriff said the two met online.

Deputies looked at the teen’s computer records and were able to ping both of their cell phones.

Their location pinged back to Gonzales, Louisiana, which led those investigators to the missing teen and the suspect.

“We started looking at her computer and started piecing it together and you know, he was wanting to meet her and a matter of fact, they met earlier in that afternoon at Walmart and they kind of planned this, that this was going to happen. So, a screen was cut, I don’t know who cut the screen, exactly, but he came in and helped her get her things and they left,” said Cantrell.

Latiolais was charged with two felonies in Mississippi, including Kidnapping and Sexual Assault.

He faces Indecent Behavior with Juveniles in Louisiana.

Cantrell says he will be extradited to Monroe County to stand trial for the Mississippi charges.