LAWRENCE COUNTY, INDIANA, Ind. — A California man has been accused raping a 12-year-old Indiana girl after they met on Snapchat.
Bernardo Revelez Tapia, 43, has been formally charged with two counts of rape, two counts of child molesting and two counts of strangulation, according to online court records.
The Greene County Sheriff's Department said it began investigating a report of a missing 12-year-old girl on Sept. 23, 2024. The family allegedly told police the girl had an older man online and made a plan over Snapchat for him to pick her up.
Police said shortly after the report was made, the girl returned home. Investigators determined Tapia picked the girl up outside her home and took her to a Bedford, Indiana, motel.
Tapia was charged Sept. 25. The next day, he was arrested by Indiana State Police in Elkhart, Indiana, and taken to the Lawrence County Jail.
"An ongoing investigation is still underway for possible charges in Greene County," the sheriff's department said in a statement, adding that Tapia is a registered sex offender in California.
Tapia, who is from San Jose, California, will be back in court for a pretrial conference Dec. 18. His jury trial has been scheduled to start March 26, 2025.
Bedford is approximately 80 miles south of Indianapolis.
