A Roanoke Rapids man has been arrested for a 1997 statutory rape case which wasn’t discovered until the completion of an abduction investigation case involving the child’s mother.

Major Bruce Temple of the Halifax County Sheriff’s Office said Clarence Williams, 44, has been charged with four counts of statutory rape and one count of indecent liberties with a minor.

The charges occurred when the child was 14 and 15 years old, Temple said. Why the charges are just being brought up now is a matter of speculation, he said.

The rape charges were not filed until the completion of an abduction investigation where Waaliah Carter of Plainfield, New Jersey, was charged.

Temple said during that investigation detectives learned Williams fathered the child involved in the abduction when he was much older than the teenage mother.

Williams turned himself in and was jailed on $30,000 bond. He has a September 22 court date.