US News

New Jersey teen rescued from illegal immigrant who abducted, raped her: cops

An illegal immigrant from Mexico got pulled over this week in Ohio with a 15-year-old girl — who turned out to be a child sex slave from New Jersey, according to cops.

Juan Carlos Morales-Pedraza, 33, is accused of abducting the teen in Paterson, NJ, and sexually assaulting her. He was on his way to Chicago when a state trooper stopped him Tuesday on the Ohio Turnpike for a failure to move over violation, cops said.

“During the stop, OSHP says the officer noticed a young female riding with an older male,” tweeted the Ohio State Highway Patrol. “Police say it was also confirmed that the man had forced the girl to perform acts on him and that the girl was being taken to Chicago from New Jersey.”

Morales-Pedraza — who is charged with abduction — was driving a 2013 Nissan Sentra when he got pulled over near Toledo, cops said. Both he and the girl were unable to speak English.

It wasn’t until authorities entered the teen’s information into the police database that they discovered she had been listed as missing. State officials told reporters that Morales-Pedraza had been living in the US illegally and was previously deported. He was still being held Tuesday night at the Lucas County Jail.

With Post Wires