BRIDGTON, MO (KTVI-FOX2now.com)—
A Bridgeton man is behind bars accused of raping a nine-year old girl. Gregory Lynn Moorehead, 44, remained in the St. Louis County jail Tuesday night on charges of statutory rape and sodomy. His bond was set at $200,000. Police said Moorehead raped his live-in girlfriend's daughter Friday afternoon, in their apartment in the 10,900 block of Margatehall. The girl's mother was not at home. Police fear she may not be his only victim.Investigators wouldn't say exactly how they found out about it. They did say officers arrested Moorehead Sunday.
"I don't want to go into detail, the specifics of it," said Lt. Mark Mossotti of the Bridgeton Police Department. "But we were able to obtain warrants on him [while] also obtaining some substantial physical evidence."
"I was in shock," neighbor, Amy Blankenship, said of the news. "That's pretty scary to know that happened right next door to me; someone that I see walking through the neighborhood, all hours of the day and night. Is that the first person this has happened to?"
Blankeship said she used to babysit the victim; the girl and Blankenshkip's daughter played together; Blankenship and her daughters knew Moorehead and had no reason to suspect anything like this.
"I think people need to be informed. That's how you keep this from happening to other children," Blankenship said.
So police called on residents to spread the word Tuesday, across the neighborhood, throughout nearby parks: that an accused sex offender had been living in their midst; there could be other victims.
"It's the only [instance] we know of thus far," Mossotti said. "Anyone who's been exposed to this ... guy and could provide additional information to us, we would appreciate it."
"I tell my kids never to get into a car with anybody, run as fast as you can and there are really monsters out there who look like people," said Bridgeton mother, Kristi Williams.
One neighbor said she recalled Moorehead being too forward with a neighborhood girl in her early teens, whistling at her. The neighbor didn't think much of it at the time. After the news broke, she wondered if it might have been warning sign.
"You really need to watch your children," Williams said. "Just because you think someone's trustworthy or you've seen them around enough to think they're a good person, you can't really go by that anymore."
Moorehead's been to prison for robbery. Police say there are no sex offenses on his criminal record.
