Man charged with holding 13-year-old girl captive

Runaway was locked in apartment from July through December

By Jay Tokasz
NEWS STAFF REPORTER

Updated: February 07, 2010, 10:00 am
Published: February 07, 2010, 12:30 am

A 26-year-old Buffalo man is accused of keeping a runaway 13-year-old girl locked in his home for nearly six months and having sex with her more than 100 times.

Michael J. Abdallah, of Thomas Street, was charged Friday with second- degree rape, unlawful imprisonment and custodial interference.

He was taken from the house in handcuffs late in the morning.

Abdallah allegedly kept the girl locked inside his apartment, where she was forced to baby-sit Abdallah’s 1-year-old son.

Abdallah is not married and it’s unclear who is the boy’s mother.

The apartment had no doorknobs, and the exit door could only be opened by using a key to two dead-bolt locks, according to a police report.

Abdallah allegedly began having sex with the runaway more than a year ago; the victim was kept inside the locked apartment from July through December, police said.

Abdallah also was charged with unlawful possession of marijuana.

Neighbors on Thomas, a street of modest, occupied houses, were stunned by the allegations.

“I had no idea. Oh my God, I can’t believe it,” said one neighbor, who didn’t want her name used.

Abdallah had occasional male and female visitors to his home, according to neighbors, who said they didn’t know a 13-year-old girl also was living there.

“He seemed friendly enough. He seemed like he was trying to fix up the house,” said a neighbor.

Abdallah bought the house at a city tax auction in 2008. It had been vacant since the death of its previous owner, according to neighbors. Thomas Street consists of two blocks between William and Metcalf streets, not far from the Central Terminal and the Main Post Office.

A piece of cardboard on Saturday blocked the view through a large front bay window. One of the windows was broken — the result, said neighbors, of fleeing burglars who couldn’t find another way out of the house when Abdallah arrived home one day.

From: http://www.buffalonews.com/cityregion/story/948718.html