A Missouri man has been arrested after admitting to police that he had sex with an 8-year-old girl and fed her methamphetamine.
Brett Pendleton, 48, rented a room at a local motel and was with the 8-year-old girl at the time, KTVI reported. The child’s mother became worried after the girl stopped answering her text messages.
Detective and police spokeswoman Betsey Schulze said the mother visited the motel later that evening. That’s when the 8-year-old got her mother in the bathroom and told her that Pendleton forced her to perform several sex acts and made her eat methamphetamine, as well as smoke marijuana and cigarettes.
The mother took her daughter to a nearby hospital and filed a police report. Authorities were able to track Pendleton down after he left the motel in his car, Schulze said. They conducted a traffic stop and arrested him.
Police executed a search warrant for Pendleton’s vehicle and motel room. Evidence in the room corroborated the 8-year-old victim’s statements, according to Schulze.
During interrogation, Pendleton confessed to police that he gave the young girl methamphetamine by wrapping it in toilet paper and then feeding it to her. He then told police that he engaged in sexual activity with the girl.
Pendleton was charged with one count of statutory sodomy or attempted statutory sodomy deviate sexual intercourse with a person under the age of 12. He was also charged with one count of first-degree endangering the welfare of a child creating substantial r isk. His bond was set at $250,000, and is cash-only.
Police said the victim’s mother is not under investigation. They said she was unaware of Pendleton’s crime until her daughter told her about them. The 8-year-old girl has since been released from the hospital, according to Washington Police Sergeant Steve Sitze.
“As you can imagine an 8-year-old on meth, not a sight you see every day,” Sitzes told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. “She was very fidgety, very amped up.”
Sitzes added that the victim was related to Pendleton and had permission from her mother to stay with him at the time.
This isn’t the first time Pendleton has been in trouble with the law.
He has been in and out of prison for the past 20 years. During that time span, he has been charged with several crimes, including trespassing, driving offenses, distribution, delivery or manufacture of drugs, and failing to pay child support, the Riverfront Times reported.
