A Louisiana man who hid in a 15-year-old girl's bedroom for several weeks has been sentenced to 15 years in prison Wednesday after pleading guilty to having sexual relations with the minor, according to a statement issued by the local county sheriff's office.
Jonathan Rossmoine, 36, was arrested by officers from the Hernando County Sheriff's Office on September 27, 2020, after the parents of the unnamed teenager called the authorities to report finding an adult man hiding in their child's bedroom.
According to the police, Rossmoine had been living in the storage space in the 15-year-old's bedroom for more than a month before he was discovered at the family's home in Spring Hill, Hernando County, Florida, when they heard noises coming from the room.
Rossmoine told police that he drove from Louisiana to Florida several times that year to have sex with the girl, whom he first met on a virtual reality social platform known as VRChat, which enables users to create 3D avatars and interact with others.
The victim referred to as her boyfriend while talking to police and said that she initially told him she was 18, before admitting she was actually 15 when they met.
Rossmoine confirmed that he had been living in the child's storage space on and off since August 19, 2020, explaining that he would hide in her closet before leaving it when her parents went to work.
He said that he had several sexual encounters with the girl inside of her bedroom as well as in his van, which he parked close to her parents' house.
Detective Tom Cameron, of Hernando County Sheriff's Office, said Rossmoine told them that "he and the young lady came up with the idea that he could just stay in her room if he hid in the closet whenever the parents came in.
"They kept the bedroom door closed and locked and whenever someone came to the door it gave them an opportunity to run and hide in the closet and open up the door to where maybe she was changing or something."
Following his arrest, Rossmoine was charged with four counts of lewd and lascivious behavior with a victim between the ages of 12 and 16, obscene communication, and traveling to meet after using a computer to lure a child.
Rossmoine will have to report as a sexual offender for the rest of his life and serve 10 years of sex offender probation upon his release in addition to the 15 years in prison, according to the Hernando County Sheriff's Office statement.
Newsweek has contacted the Hernando County Sheriff's Office for comment.
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