Nov 16, 2017 2 min read

A Waynesburg area girl who left home with a 27-year-old man early Tuesday is back with her parents after authorities in Tennessee located her using her cellphone signal.

Police in Tullahoma found the 15-year-old girl Wednesday morning with Nathan Black after receiving a missing person report that the two might be in the central Tennessee city about an hour south of Nashville.

Police charged Black, 27, of Tullahoma, with felony counts of statutory rape and contributing to the delinquency of a minor. He is being held in Coffee County jail on $85,000 bond while awaiting his next court hearing Nov. 30.

Edward Knott, a spokesman for Coffee County, said the two engaged in a sexual relationship, according to court documents filed Wednesday.

The Observer-Reporter does not identify victims of alleged sex assaults.

State police Sgt. Thomas Maher, the barracks commander in Waynesburg, said troopers received a call regarding the girl’s disappearance about 6 a.m. Tuesday when a relative went into her room to wake her for school. Maher said the girl and Black met on social media, and the girl knew Black was an adult. The two left her home overnight, Maher said.

“She met up with him and decided to go with him willingly,” Maher said.

Winston Brooks, a spokesman for Tullahoma Police Department, said authorities were able to locate the girl after her cellphone provider found her signal in the city. He added she was later taken to an “agency” in Nashville, although he did not elaborate.

“The girl is safe. She was taken to the police station to await the arrival of her parents,” Brooks said.

Authorities are still deciding whether to charge Black in Pennsylvania, Maher said.