HOOVER, Ala. (WIAT) — Hoover police have announced charges against a man who was reportedly found with a runaway child.

According to HPD, on September 15, officers received reports of a 12-year-old female juvenile runaway. Detectives began an investigation and found a possible location for the child after receiving information from a family member that indicated she may have been with a man she met online. On September 16, BPD located the child at a residence in the 800 block of 4th Avenue South and determined the man had engaged in sexual acts with the child.

Herbert Cox, 37, of Birmingham, was taken into custody and transported to the Hoover City Jail. He was charged with traveling to meet a child for an unlawful sex act, second-degree rape, second-degree sodomy and sale, furnishing, etc. of controlled substances by persons over age 18 to persons under age 18.

The investigation remains ongoing. He was transferred to the Jefferson County Jail in Bessemer where he remains held without bond.