Posted on Fri, Jul. 13, 2012

A former child-abuse investigator for the Department of Children & Families was ordered Friday to be held without bail.

Jean LaCroix, 45, is charged with five counts of unlawful sexual activity with a minor.

He is accused of repeatedly having sex with a girl at the same time he was assigned to her child-abuse case.

LaCroix was arrested as part of an investigation into a Homestead prostitution ring that employed foster children as sex workers.

He was arrested June 30 in New York City, where he had planned to board a flight to the Caribbean. Prosecutors said in a statement they considered him a flight risk and argued he should be held without bail.

Beginning on Oct.11, and lasting until child-welfare administrators moved his alleged victim to a different part of the county the next January, LaCroix allegedly met with the girl numerous times, according to a arrest warrant.

He would meet her near her school, the warrant said, and take her back to his home to have sex.