Police in Lackawanna County arrested one man and are looking for another who both are accused of sexually abusing underage girls.
The cases are similar, but unrelated. Both alleged victims came forward years after the abuse started.
One of those men, Billy Seymour of Archbald, is locked up awaiting $15,000 bail. He is charged with rape and aggravated indecent assault for the alleged abuse of a young girl. County detectives also filed the same charges against a man from Florida, who is still wanted for abusing another girl in Jessup and Throop.
When confronted by Archbald Police officers, Billy Seymour told them that several years back a five-year-old girl tried to seduce him. He said that's how his alleged sexual relationship with the girl, now 14, started.
He was arrested after the girl finally came forward telling investigators that Seymour raped her a few times a week in an apartment in Archbald.
Police said they heard about the case because the girl got up the courage to tell a friend, who took her to a school counselor. As per protocol, the counselor called police.
Officer Jamie Nolan said it may seem like we hear about child sex abuse cases more often, but that's because the system for reporting them is stronger.
"I think it just comes to the system working, and they're more comfortable coming forward now. So the proper investigation can be done, and we can get the cases solved from there," Nolan said.
The other child sex abuse case came about in a similar way. When the alleged victim, a 13-year-old girl, came forward to her mother about abuse she said happened when her family was living in Throop and Jessup.
The girl accused Andrew Bower who now lives in Florida and has been arrested there for similar crimes. Detectives in Lackawanna County filed an arrest warrant charging Bower with rape and indecent assault.
The girl said the abuse started along Sanderson Street in Throop when she was five, then continued at another home on Basalyga Street in Jessup.