An 18-year-old man allegedly raped a 12-year-old girl in Springfield Township while he had a pending court case open for failing to register as a sex offender from a previous offense.
According to Springfield Township police, James Edward Lane allegedly tried to pursue a relationship with the minor, which ultimately ended in the rape offense.
Search the Summit County sex offender registry here.
Police records show the girl disclosed the sexual assault last month. The offense happened towards the end of 2015, according to a police report.
Lane was arrested on January 28 and transported to the Summit County Jail on a rape charge.
Police said Lane was already involved in a court case after failing to register a change of address. As a Tier III sex offender, he's required to register his address every three months.
He was indicted for notice of change of address and has a hearing scheduled for February 24.
Court records show Lane was also arrested for rape and kidnapping in 2013, while he was a juvenile.
The police report states that Lane forced an 11-year-old girl into a tent in her backyard in June of that year and raped her.
The pictures of adult Tier III sex offenders appear on a public registry and people living within 1,000 feet receive notifications about sex offenders.
However, the juvenile registry and the offenders' photographs are not public. In addition, their addresses are not subject to community notification.
"In fact, you could very well have a juvenile sex offender living next door to you and he may well be an adult now and still have to register, but he's not in the public registry," said Springfield Township Sgt. Eric East.
