A 40-year-old Odessa man was arrested Saturday after a 15-year-old girl told authorities he invited her into his home after she ran away from home and engaged in a month-long sexual relationship with her.
According to an Odessa Police Department report, officers went to a home in the 1500 block of East 52nd Street on Sept. 27, 2023 after getting a report about someone jumping out a back window.
During the ensuing investigation, officers learned about a possible sexual relationship between the runaway and Justin Levi Bell, the report stated.
The girl told officers she’d been having sex with Bell and she underwent a sexual assault nurse examination where DNA was taken, the report stated.
After threatening to commit suicide and receiving help at a mental health facility, the girl told a forensic interviewer she met Bell after she ran away from home and was walking along a sidewalk, the report stated. He invited her to stay at the home on 52nd Street, according to the report.
During the month she lived with Bell, she said they had frequent sex and on one occassion she engaged in a sex act with his roommate, the report stated.
Bell was arrested on a warrant for sexual assault of a child, a second-degree felony. He is also facing a possession of a controlled substance charge. He remained in the Ector County jail Monday evening on surety bonds totaling $42,500.
