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LOVEGROVE
Devon Alexander Lovegrove, the 21-year-old Clarkesville man accused of picking up an underage girl at her home in Tennessee in early May, was arrested on a single felony charge of continuous trafficking of persons in Austin, Texas, last month.
Lovegrove was booked into the Travis County Correctional Complex in Del Valle, Texas, on May 20 at 12:27 p.m., a day after authorities reported 13-year-old Jaylei Smith had been found safe. As of Wednesday, online jail records show his bond was set at $60,000.
As previously reported by The Northeast Georgian, Smith left her home in South Pittsburg, Tenn., with Lovegrove in the early morning hours of May 10. The pair were last seen in a surveillance photo from a Clarkesville gas station prior to being located in Austin 10 days later.
Detectives from the Marion County (Tenn.) Sheriff’s Department are still investigating the case. No information has been released on why Lovegrove traveled to Texas with the young girl.
The continuous trafficking of persons charge in Texas gives police the right to make an arrest if they believe a person engaged in trafficking more than one person two or more times within a 30-day duration.
A conviction is punished as a felony of the first degree with a minimum of 25 years to life in prison and a maximum possible fine of up to $10,000.
Smith's aunt Connie Barnes previously said her niece was in contact with people on social media sites like Grindr, Tinder and Snapchat, implying that may have been where she met Lovegrove. Barnes also alleged she had reason to believe another young girl was with them. However, authorities have not released any information on that claim either.
“Jaylei is doing okay,” Barnes wrote on Facebook on May 21. “Just keep the prayers coming. It will be a long journey for mental recovery. … For people asking about the other female, both are saying she went back to Tennessee after they reached Texas. We still don’t know her name. But police are looking into it.”
No other information was immediately made available before press time on Thursday.