GONZALES, LA (WAFB) – An 18-year-old has been arrested on charges of contributing to the delinquency of juveniles in connection with the 13-year-old girl who went missing from Baker during the early morning hours of Christmas Day.

On Tuesday, December 27, Bake Police officers were summoned to investigate a report of a missing 13-year-old female Hispanic girl. The officer made contact with the girl’s father, who stated his daughter had been missing since Christmas morning. Around 7:45 p.m. on Tuesday, Louisiana State Police issued an Endangered/Missing Child Alert for the girl, Erica Acosta.

Approximately 30 minutes after the alert went out, officials say the victim’s father said he received a call from Acosta saying she was on her way home.

Later that night, Baker Police Criminal Investigative Detectives, assisted by the FBI, U.S. Marshal’s Office, and LSP, made contact with Acosta and another 14-year-old girl in a white 2003 BMW 325I, which was being driven by Mejia Vasquez, 18.

Acosta admitted that both she and the other 14-year-old girl were drinking alcohol, smoking, and partying with Vasquez even though she says he knew she had left the house without her father’s permission. Vasquez only brought Acosta home when the missing child alert was issued in an attempt to avoid criminal charges.

Vasquez was arrested and booked into the East Baton Rouge Parish Prison on charges of contributing to the delinquency of a juvenile.