ST. CHARLES, Mo. (KMOX/AP) - A convicted sex offender is facing new charges of statutory rape after allegedly running off with Molly Linhardt, a 16-year-old St. Charles County girl, for nine days.

Twenty-seven-year-old Benjamin Kinkade of Wright City is jailed in St. Charles County on $50,000 bond.

The saga began two weeks ago when Linhardt’s father dropped her off for school. Linhardt skipped class and, when her father came back to pick her up, he found Benjamin Kinkade near the high school. Kinkade, 27, of Wright City, is listed on Missouri Sex Offender Registry after he was found guilty in the statutory rape of a 12-year-old Troy girl in 2002.

Upset, Linhardt’s dad took away her cellphone. She then claimed she had to be dropped off at KFC to work but Officer Melissa Doss with St. Peters Police said Molly’s parents “found out later on that she wasn’t scheduled to work and, when they went to look for her, she was not at work.”

Lindhardt is believed to have used the restroom, left the KFC on Jungermann Road, and met up with Kinkade that night, January 14. Relatives of Kinkade turned him in last week and the teen was returned to her family.

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