Man charged with assaulting Radnor girl who was sought in multistate search
INQUIRER STAFF WRITER Ashley Ryan Hareford, 20, was charged Monday with sexually assaulting a 13-year-old Radnor girl whose disappearance last week set off a multistate manhunt.
INQUIRER STAFF WRITER
Ashley Ryan Hareford, 20, was charged Monday with sexually assaulting a 13-year-old Radnor girl whose disappearance last week set off a multistate manhunt.
The girl told police that she and Hareford, who was arrested at a Washington bus station hours after she was reported missing, had "several" sexual encounters.
Hareford, who was extradited from Virginia on Monday, has admitted the encounters, which allegedly occurred at the Garrett Hill SEPTA station and in a wooded area near the King of Prussia mall, officials said.
According to the affidavit of probable cause, Hareford met Savanna Marie MacMullett via an online chat. After numerous conversations, it said, Hareford hitchhiked from his home in Virginia to meet her.
Hareford "took advantage of his victim, who was clearly only a 13-year-old girl," it said.
He was ordered held on $1 million cash bail at his arraignment Monday.
When Hareford was arrested last week, the girl was with him, and she was placed in the custody of the Washington Child Protection Services.
The girl told police she and Hareford had planned to run away to her mother's residence in Myrtle Beach, S.C.
She said she met Hareford about a month earlier through an online chat application called Party in My Dorm. She said she knew that Hareford was 20 because he had told her.
The two were found in Washington about 7 p.m. Dec. 2 after police received an anonymous tip following news reports about the missing teenager.
The girl's father, Thomas MacMullett, had made a public plea for her to return, saying he was not angry at his daughter. "I just want her to come home," he said.
Hareford's address was listed as Grottoes, Va., in the affidavit.
In addition to sexual assault, he was charged with several other counts, including indecent exposure.
(The Inquirer normally does not name victims of sexual assault. In this instance, the girl's name had been widely circulated after she was reported missing by police and her father.)