AT2W

Jean LaCroix was on the run for nearly a week after he was discovered and linked to a high-profile investigation into the sexual trafficking of foster children.  LaCroix, a state child-abuse investigator was arrested Saturday while he was trying to flee to the Dominican Republic.

While Jean LaCroix, who has been on paid administrative leave since May from his job with the Department of Children & Families, had been in New York City preparing to flee the United States, said a spokesman for Miami-Dade State Attorney Katherine Fernández Rundle.

Prosecutors believe LaCroix ultimately was headed for Haiti, where he grew up, which shares the island of Hispaniola with the Dominican Republic.

LaCroix, 46, was charged with five counts of unlawful sexual activity with a minor, according to an arrest warrant signed by Detective Jeannette Azcuy, who headed up the case for the Miami-Dade Police Department.

“If he had gotten to Haiti, we would never have seen him again,” Griffith said.

Police, prosecutors and U.S. Immigration and Custom’s Enforcement agents “all went to extraordinary lengths to take this man into custody as he tried to flee the country,” said Rundle. “But for those who work child exploitation and human trafficking cases, extraordinary efforts are just part of the everyday routine.”

According to the warrant obtained by The Miami Herald, the Miami police learned on May 7 from a DCF investigator that a girl under agency supervision stated she had sex with LaCroix several times. The terrible part of the scenario is LaCroix had been the investigator assigned to her child-abuse case!! What?!! The abuse went on from last October until the victim was moved to an area in the county months later.

The teen told authorities she would call LaCroix after school and he would meet her and take her home to have sex.

This statement is consistent with LaCroix’s state-issued cell phone records, which showed “considerable” phone activity between LaCroix and the girl. From Dec. 24 through Jan. 23 alone, the two spoke on the phone 72 times, the warrant says.

Once DCF administrators were alerted, they told him to stop speaking her but the teen stated they spoke two days later. On May 7, the agency placed LaCroix on administrative leave with pay, and seized his cell phone. But LaCroix continued to call the girl from another phone, “and instructed her to call him” from something other than her cell phone.

If they put this one under the jail, we’ll understand.