VOLUSIA COUNTY, Fla. – A man stands accused of raping a 12-year-old girl who ran away from a Volusia County children’s home in August, according to the sheriff’s office.
Deputies said Brian T. Young, 53, sexually battered the girl in the woods near Green Springs Park in Deltona.
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The Volusia County Sheriff’s Office said the girl ran away from Florida United Methodist Children’s Home and was found on Aug. 24, 2021, at the park. When deputies met with the girl, she said she was raped after leaving a homeless camp.
Investigators were able to identify Young as a potential suspect, saying he lived in the homeless camp in the Green Springs area.
DNA from a sexual assault kit submitted to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement was used by the sheriff’s office to match Young to the sexual battery case.
The sheriff’s office obtained a warrant and arrested Young Thursday on sexual battery charges. He was later charged him with possession of fentanyl and narcotics paraphernalia.
“Obviously, he’s going to spend his life in jail he took advantage of a kid clearly who has some mental issues,” Sheriff Mike Chitwood said.
It wasn’t the first time the girl ran away from the home.
“She once runaway and tried to swim across Lake Monroe over to Sanford,” Chitwood said.
She wasn’t the only one to escape either.
Just two months before, two children ran away from it, broke into a nearby house, destroyed it, then took guns from it and shot at deputies who had it surrounded.
F.U.M.C.H has since stopped its emergency shelter and Chitwood is pushing the county to create a Juvenile Assessment Center. In it would be staff from the sheriff’s office, school district, local behavioral clinics, and DCF.
“Every juvenile that we come in contact with, whether it’s for wanting to harm themselves or they commit a crime before they go anywhere, they go there,” he explained.
Volusia County Council just earmarked about $5.4M in federal funding for it, too.
“We’re investing in our kids and keeping our kids out of the criminal justice system and that’s the way to proceed,” Chitwood said.