A missing Vermont girl's uncle brought her home
for initiation into a child sex ring to which he belonged,
federal officials charge in an affidavit released Wednesday.
A 14-year-old told authorities she helped Michael Jacques,
uncle of the missing 12-year-old, take the girl
to Jacques' Randolph home on June 25
to be initiated into a sex ring called Breckinridge.
Brooke Bennett
missing Vermont girl
The niece has not been seen since that day and police,
who had been searching Jacques' home,
were seen with metal detectors searching an area of farmland and woods
about a mile away from his house Wednesday afternoon.
The 14-year-old said she understood that as part of the initiation,
the niece "would have sex with adult males,"
according to the affidavit in U.S. District Court.
The girl said she and the niece watched television for a while
before Jacques told her to leave and took the niece upstairs.
The witness said she left the house with her boyfriend
and did not see the niece again.
The 14-year-old said she herself had been having sex
with Jacques, 42, since she was 9 as part of the sex ring.
Michael Stephen Jacques, 42
Jacques remains a "person of interest" in his niece's disappearance.
Separately, he has pleaded not guilty to charges of aggravated sexual assault
over a five-year period against a different underage girl.
The affidavit was made public as Raymond Gagnon,
the missing girl's former stepfather,
appeared in federal court in Burlington on an obstruction of justice charge.
He was denied bail and was held pending another hearing on Monday.
Police say Gagnon, 40, lives in Texas but often visited Vermont.
He told police he accessed the missing girl's MySpace page from a laptop computer
at his home in San Antonio and changed the account's user name and password.
He said he got the login information from Jacques.
In Randolph, friends and family of the girl put up signs saying they missed her
and were praying for her safe return.
"To the community, thank you so much for all your support and help,
and I hope I can keep continuing to get that," said the mother, Cassandra Gagnon.
She wore a photo pin of her daughter on her T-shirt.
She said she was "very surprised" by her ex-husband's alleged involvement.
(Associated Press)
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Breaking News
Vermont State Police say
they have found a body that is believed to be
that of missing 12-year-old Brooke Bennett.
Col. James Baker of the Vermont State Police say the body was located
about 4:45pm off Crocker Road in the town of Randolph,
where Bennett's uncle, Michael Jacques lives.
Earlier in the day, it had been reported that Jacques allegedly was planning
to force her into a child sex ring the day she disappeared.
Baker says the investigation is "making progress",
and will continue with efforts to identify Bennett's killer.
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