Second Arrest in Search for Missing Girl

July 1, 2008— -- An intense search for a missing Vermont girl hasn't found the missing 'tween, but it has caught two alleged child abusers -- first her uncle and now her stepfather.

Police announced today the arrest of 40-year-old Ray Gagnon. Vermont State Police Sgt. Tara Thomas confirmed to ABC News that Gagnon is the stepfather of 12-year-old Brooke Bennet.

Brooke was last seen June 25 when she was dropped off by her uncle, Michael Jacques, at a store in Randolph, Vt.

She told her family she was going with a friend to visit someone in the hospital, but a police search of her computer indicated she was heading for a rendezvous with someone she was communicating with on MySpace.

Since the Amber Alert was issued for Brooke, police arrested Jacques on charges that he had been molesting a young female relative, not Brooke, for the past five years, starting when she was nine. He has also been declared a "person of interest" in Brooke's disappearance.

Thomas said Gagnon was arrested today and charged with sexually assaulting a minor in Royalton, Vt., during the summer of 2007. Vermont state police said Gagnon's arrest "is in connection with the aggravated sexual assault arrest of Michael Jacques."

The details that lead to Gagnon's arrest were uncovered by investigators assigned to investigate the disappearance of Brooke.

Gagnon, who is originally from San Antonio, Texas, was charged with aggravated sexual assault and jailed in lieu of $250,000 bail. Conviction could result in a jail term of 10 years to life and a fine of $50,000.

But neither man has been charged in connection with Brooke Bennett's disappearance.

Investigators have found at least one clue to what happened to the girl. Early in the probe clothing was found along Route 65 in the town of Brookfield, the next town over from where Brooke was last seen.

Thomas said, "Preliminary forensic work has tied some of those items back to Brooke."