Child sex crime arrest

A 22-year-old Orange man was arrested for sexual assault of a child, according to the Lumberton Police Department’s (LPD) arrest report for Oct. 21-27.

Dakota Leander Bailey, LPD reports, was arrested, charged with the second-degree felony, and released on bond set at $5,000 by Pct. 5 Justice of the Peace Melissa Minton on Oct. 21. According to charging papers, the offense was committed around Sept. 24 and the suspect and 15-year-old victim were in a “dating relationship.”

Oct. 7, the suspect was arrested at the victim’s mother’s home in Orange. The mother discovered the suspect was at her home and called the Orange Police Department (OPD). When OPD arrived, the suspect said he was 16, but the officer discovered Bailey’s true age. Bailey was arrested for failure to identify and for distribution of harmful material to a minor. The victim told her mother that the suspect allegedly raped the teen at her father’s home in Lumberton around Sept. 24. The victim was later examined at a Beaumont hospital.

The suspect agreed to an interview with LPD, at which time, the police report, Bailey confessed to having sex with the victim on “mutual agreement.” He also confessed to sending nude photographs of himself to the victim’s cell phone. The victim’s family requested a protection order against the suspect.