Elizabeth City, N.C. (WTKR) - An arrest has been made after a teenage clerk was attacked while working at an EconoLodge in Elizabeth City Monday night.
According to the Elizabeth City Police Department, officers responded to the EconoLodge on South Hughes Boulevard around 8:15p.m.
Police say the victim, a juvenile, was working at the front desk when 22-year-old Aeron Nicholas Etheridge came to the front lobby to complain his television wasn't working.
Aeron Nicholas Etheridge (Courtesy: Elizabeth City Police)
The clerk went to Etheridge's room to try and get a game system to work on the television. It's at that point that police say Etheridge asked her to bring him soap and towels on two separate occasions.
When the victim returned to Etheridge's room the second time with the soap, police say the hotel room was dark and the door was slightly open.
At that point police say the victim yelled for Etheridge, but no one came to the door or responded to her shouts. As she entered the room to leave the soap, the door closed and locked behind her.
Elizabeth City Police say Etheridge then demanded the teenage girl sit on the bed, where he proceeded to tie her hands with some type of cord and then perform oral sex and have intercourse with him.
Once the assault ended, Etheridge untied the victim and allowed her to leave. She then left the area and made contact with her parent, who called police. The teen was taken to hospital, where she was treated and released.
Aeron Etheridge has been charged with second-degree sex offense and first-degree kidnapping.
He was arrested Tuesday morning according to Elizabeth City Police.
A clerk at the motel told NewsChannel 3's Todd Corillo Monday morning that the Etheridge had been staying at the motel.
She added that employees had noticed the man would hang around in the lobby and that they had warned each other that something seemed off about him.
Police say he had been staying there on and off since his release from jail in November 2015 on other charges.
Etheridge was given a $300,000 secured bond and has been confined at the Albemarle District Jail.
