Missing 14-year-old girl was lured to man’s Georgia home via dating app, reports say

A 14-year-old girl who vanished on the last day of school has been found three weeks later living with a 41-year-old Georgia man, according to the Gwinnett County Police Department.

The girl has been reunited with her family and the man, Russell Cheeves, was arrested June 15 and charged with enticing a child for indecent purposes and interference with custody, according to a news release. He is also accused of child molestation, jail records show.

Investigators say the two met via a dating app and that the girl was manipulated into going to the man’s home in nearby Clayton County, south of Atlanta, WSB-TV reports.

“Information was received that led the lead detective to believe that (the girl) was at a home on Sanders Drive in Morrow,” police said.

“Officers with the Lake City Police Department and the City of Morrow Police Department visited the home and located (her) ... with a man,” the sheriff’s office said.

The girl’s home in Stone Mountain is about 25 miles north of Morrow.

She went missing May 24, and was last seen outside Parkview High School after taking an exam, police said. That was also the last day of classes for the Gwinnett County Public Schools.

The case got more troubling when investigators discovered her cell phone had been switched off and all social media activity ceased. The girl did “not have access to money or a car,” police said.

“These circumstances are outside her normal behavior, as she has perfect attendance in school,” police said in a June 5 news release.

This story was originally published June 18, 2023 at 9:39 AM with the headline "Missing 14-year-old girl was lured to man’s Georgia home via dating app, reports say."