ST. LOUIS – A St. Louis Circuit Court judge signed an at large arrest warrant Tuesday for a man accused of sex crimes involving children.
According to the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department’s probable cause statement, Ferguson police detectives were assigned to investigate a runaway juvenile on Monday, Feb. 3. The detectives eventually tracked the missing juvenile to an apartment building in the 5300 block of Pershing Avenue, just north of Forest Park in the city’s DeBaliviere Place neighborhood.
Detectives learned that the juvenile had been encouraged to run away by an adult male, later identified as Keron A. Williams, 29.
Ferguson detectives and St. Louis police officers went to Williams’ residence and found two juveniles in his apartment, one of whom was the runaway they’d been searching for. The second juvenile had also been reported missing.
According to police, investigators spoke with the runaway teen, who told them Williams paid her $500 in June 2024 to have sex with him, and that the encounter took place in Williams’ apartment. The victim said she was 14 years old at the time.
Police said the victim, now 15, said Williams offered her $200 to again have sex with him at the apartment. The second juvenile said Williams offered her money if she allowed him to perform a sex act on her. She told police she took the money, but the sex act never took place.
Law enforcement could not confirm if Williams was arrested at the scene.
The St. Louis Circuit Attorney’s Office charged Williams with two counts of second-degree sexual trafficking of a child under 18 years of age, two counts of second-degree statutory rape, and one count of first-degree endangering the welfare of a child. The judge said Williams will be held without bond once he’s in custody.