FBI arrests active-duty US Marine, announces federal charges

An active-duty U.S. Marine was arrested this week after allegedly traveling from North Carolina to Indiana “to meet, kidnap and sexually assault” a 12-year-old girl, the FBI said.

William Richard Roy, a 24-year-old from Camp Lejeune, was arrested by the FBI in Durham, North Carolina, on October 26, according to the FBI’s Indianapolis field office.

The bureau said its investigation began Oct. 25 when the Merrillville Resident Agency of the FBI’s Indianapolis Field Office received information from the Hammond Police Department regarding a missing 12-year-old girl believed to be traveling with Roy. The child’s grandmother had reported him missing earlier in the day.

“Through the coordinated efforts of the FBI, the Hammond Police Department, and the U.S. Marshals Service, it was determined that Roy flew to Chicago on October 24, 2025. The next day, he took an Uber to Hammond, where he met the child at a park,” the FBI statement added. “The two men then returned to Chicago by Uber, spent the night in a hotel, and then boarded a Greyhound bus bound for Durham, North Carolina.”

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The main entrance to Marine Base Camp Lejeune is visible outside of Jacksonville, North Carolina. William Richard Roy was arrested this week, the FBI said. (Allen G. Breed/AP; Durham County Sheriff’s Office)

“When the bus arrived in Durham on October 26, agents from the Greensboro and Raleigh Resident Agencies of the FBI’s Charlotte Field Office arrested Roy and safely recovered the child,” the FBI also said.

An FBI spokesperson in Indianapolis told Fox News Digital on Friday that Roy claimed to have met the child on TikTok.

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An American flag is pictured at Camp Lejeune in North Carolina. (Fred Marie/The Art in Each of Us/Corbis via Getty Images)

Roy now faces federal charges of enticing a minor to travel for illicit sexual activity, transporting a minor to engage in illicit sexual activity, traveling interstate with the intent to engage in a sexual act with a minor.

William Richard Roy is an active duty United States Marine, according to the FBI. (Kevin Carter/Getty Images)

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The Marines did not immediately respond Friday to a request for comment from Fox News Digital.