Izard County man arrested for sexually assaulting, grooming young girl

An Izard County man has been arrested for sexually assaulting and sexually grooming a young girl. Facing five felony charges in the case is 42-year-old Gerald Lawrence Villneff Jr. of Oxford.
According to the probable cause affidavit from the Izard County Sheriff’s Office, the investigation began after a report was received on the Arkansas State Police Child Abuse Hotline about a girl being abused by Villneff Jr. Investigators from the sheriff’s office and the Arkansas State Police Crimes Against Children Division interviewed the victim and determined Villneff had sexually assaulted her four times and attempted to one other time when she was between the ages of nine and ten.

Another tip came in to the sheriff’s office a few days later which led to a search warrant being executed at Villneff Jr.’s residence. Witnesses there corroborated some of the statements made by the victim.

Villneff Jr. is facing four counts of second degree sexual assault and one count of sexually grooming a child. He is being held in the Izard County Detention Center with bond set at $100,000.

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