Vermont State Police say the uncle of a missing 12-year-old girl – one of the last people to see her before she vanished – has been arrested on unrelated sex charges developed as part of the investigation into her disappearance.
Forty-two-year-old Michael Jacques, of Randolph, who dropped off Brooke Bennett at a convenience store Wednesday and was seen leaving it in a different direction on a surveillance camera video, was charged with aggravated sexual assault against a minor – the victim wasn’t Bennett.
She remains missing today, despite an intensive search by state police, the FBI and other agencies.
Jacques, who is married to Bennett’s mother’s sister, is listed on Vermont sex offender registry. He was convicted of sexual assault and kidnapping in 1993.
The arrest came as the result of information uncovered by investigators assigned to the disappearance. The victim wasn’t identified.
He was being held at the Southern State Correctional Facility in Springfield, pending an arraignment in Orange County District Court today.