A 15-year-old girl from New Jersey reported missing by her parents was rescued from a nightmare ordeal in which she was held captive for nearly 24 hours in a Bronx apartment and raped repeatedly by an alleged serial predator she met online, police said Thursday.
William Credle, 24, was arrested Tuesday around 11:30 p.m. at his apartment on Hughes Ave. near E. 187th St. in Belmont after a frantic search for the missing teen that began the night before, cops said. At the time of his arrest, Credle was awaiting sentencing after pleading guilty to having an inappropriate sexual relationship with a child in 2024. Cops said they suspect there may have been more victims.
After chatting online, Credle ordered a car service to take the girl from her New Jersey home to his apartment around 11:30 p.m. Monday. The girl told detectives from Bronx Special Victims Unit that once she got to the apartment, Credle raped her while she cried and repeatedly said “no” and “stop,” according to the criminal complaint against him.
When she told Credle she wanted to go home, he blocked her from leaving and hid the tablet that she was using as a phone, the complaint says, and hours later he raped her again despite her continued cries of “no,” and “stop,” the girl told detectives, the complaint says.
At some point Credle punched the girl in the head, a police source with knowledge of the case said.
When the girl’s parents realized she wasn’t at home in bed, they traced the GPS on her tablet to her location in the Bronx, a police source said. They immediately reported their daughter missing to police in New Jersey, who issued an AMBER Alert. NJ police contacted the NYPD, which rescue the girl from the apartment and arrested Credle around 11:30 p.m.Tuesday.
Credle is charged with multiple counts of rape, sexual abuse and unlawful imprisonment, according to the criminal complaint against him.
He pleaded not guilty at court in the Bronx on Thursday and his bail was set at $50,000 cash or $200,000 bond.
Credle, who has an extensive rap sheet — including numerous citations for domestic violence against various family members — already had a warrant out for his arrest when he was busted in the Bronx, according to a police source. He pleaded guilty to acting in a manner injurious to a child, a misdemeanor, in March 2024 after an apparently consensual sexual encounter in Manhattan with a different 15-year-old girl he had been speaking with online for a year. He was released on $10,000 bail in April to await his sentencing. At some point, however he failed to appear in court, and a warrant was issued for his arrest. He was facing up to one year in prison.
His next court appearance is Nov. 10 in the Bronx.
On Thursday police released Credle’s mugshot and asked any other victims of his to come forward by calling the NYPD’s Sex Crimes Hotline at 212-267-RAPE (7273).
