LEWISTON – A Portland man was arrested Tuesday night and charged with luring a 14-year-old girl to a downtown motel in Lewiston, plying her with drugs and having sex with her.
Anthony Buerhaus, 34, was arrested on charges of gross sexual assault and furnishing marijuana after police went to the Pleasant Street motel and found the man and girl together in a room.
Buerhaus was taken to the police station for questioning while other officers began searching the motel room.
Police said Buerhaus met the 14-year-old through an Internet chat room and eventually enticed her to meet him in Lewiston.
Police Lt. Tom Avery said Buerhaus convinced the teen to take a taxi to the motel early Tuesday night. The girl lives just outside Lewiston, Avery said.
“This really demonstrates the potential dangers of the Internet, particularly for teenagers,” Avery said.
One of the girl’s relatives contacted police at about 6 p.m. after uncovering information that the teen planned to meet the 34-year-old at the motel. Several officers were sent to the motel.
“Her relatives were already en route to the motel at that time,” Avery said. “The family was obviously very concerned when they discovered she had taken a cab here and they didn’t know why.”
Buerhaus was arrested after he and the girl were questioned separately about the meeting. He was taken to the Androscoggin County Jail in Auburn where he was being booked late Tuesday night.
According to court records, Buerhaus lived in Lewiston for a time in the late 1990s. He has a 1999 conviction for violating a protection order for which he was sentenced to two days in jail.
Three hours after the investigation began Tuesday night, police were still searching the motel room where Buerhaus and the teen were found.
“We’re also in the process of searching his home computer,” Avery said. “The detectives are on their way to Portland as we speak.”
Scot Bradeen, a Lewiston police officer who works with the Maine Computer Crimes Task Force, was called in to join the investigation, which was expected to continue into Wednesday.
“This certainly shows the dangers of meeting someone on the Internet,” Avery said. “We encourage parents to monitor what their kids are doing on the computer and who they are corresponding with.”
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