Man Who Hid in Teen Girl’s Bedroom for Weeks Sentenced to Prison

A man from Louisiana was sentenced to 15 years in prison once he admitted having sex with a teenage girl whose room he hid in, authorities announced.

Thirty-six-year-old Johnathan Rossmoine was arrested in September when the 15-year-old’s parents caught him hiding in her closet in Spring Hill, Florida, the New York Post reported Saturday.

He pleaded guilty Wednesday regarding charges of sex with a minor and must register as a sex offender, according to the Hernando County Sheriff’s Office.

The agency detailed the initial events in a recent Facebook post:

Rossmoine advised he drove from Louisiana to Spring Hill on several occasions to have sex with the victim. The suspect advised on this current trip he had been in Hernando County for about five weeks and had sex with the victim on numerous occasions. The victim first met the suspect about two years ago while using an online chatting app. The app allows users to chat via text and voice using virtual avatars.

The victim referred to Rossmoine as a boyfriend. The victim indicated initially telling Rossmoine about being 18 before admitting prior to meeting in person to actually being 15. The victim indicated Rossmoine had been living off and on in the teen’s bedroom since Aug. 19, 2020. The suspect would hide in the closet when the victim’s parents were home, only coming out when they left for work.

Detective Tom Cameron with the Hernando County Sheriff’s Office told Newsweek that Rossmoine explained “he and the young lady came up with the idea that he could just stay in her room if he hid in the closet whenever the parents came in.”

“They kept the bedroom door closed and locked and whenever someone came to the door it gave them an opportunity to run and hide in the closet and open up the door to where maybe she was changing or something,” he said.