Smithfield man held on $2M bond on child rape, kidnapping charges

SMITHFIELD, N.C. (AP) — Johnston County authorities say a 29-year-old man is being held on charges that he raped a 12-year-old girl at knifepoint after kidnapping her from her home in Princeton.

Elder Geovani Cortez of Smithfield is charged with first-degree rape of a child, first-degree kidnapping and indecent liberties with a child. The sheriff’s office says he’s being held on $2 million bond.

Cortez was arrested Friday, one day after the girl was kidnapped from her home.

The sheriff’s department says the girl was bound and blindfolded, taken to a home and raped there, then released near Interstate 40, where she was found by state Highway Patrol troopers

A sheriff’s office spokesman says the girl was treated at a hospital and released to her parents. The spokesman says the girl and Cortez did not know each other.

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