Man travels by bus, hitchhikes for sex

A 21-year old Indianapolis man who befriended a 14-year old East Brewton girl through social media has been charged with rape II and interference with child custody after he rode a Greyhound bus and hitchhiked from West Virginia to have sex with the underage girl.

Cameron Lawrence Sparks was jailed on $500,000 following his arrest by officers with the East Brewton Police Department. Sparks was also charged with computer solicitation of sex from a child.

East Brewton Police Chief Kenny Brazille said Sparks rode the bus from West Virginia to Birmingham and then hitchhiked from Birmingham to East Brewton.

He said the parents of the girl reported her missing at 1 a.m. on Jan. 2 and it was determined that the two had been camping in the woods near Fort Crawford Park for two to three days. At one point, Sparks went to an East Brewton convenience store and asked if they sold Viagra.

Brazille said officers began searching with woods and used drones to locate the two last Wednesday morning.

Court records state that between Jan. 2 and Jan. 5, once Sparks reached East Brewton he met up with the juvenile and the two went to the woods near Ft. Crawford and stayed in a tent where the two had sex.

The report also states that the two met on social media through Instagram and Snapchat. During those conversations, Sparks discussed the sexual things he wanted to do and try once the two got together.

Brazille said as bad as it was, it could have been worse.

"There are thousands of missing teens across the country," he said. "Children get lured in and could be talking to a serial killer. It's easy for children to fall prey to these guys."

Brazille said it's important for parents to monitor what their children are doing on the computer to prevent something like this from happening.

"We were fortunate on this one," Brazille said. "I could have been a lot worse. But at least this child gets to go home to her parents. We read about the horror stories some of these things can turn into."