Nevada man accused of traveling for sex with minor remains jailed

Suspect waives right to detention hearing

A Nevada man accused of driving across the country for sex with a young girl will remain in federal custody pending trial.

Renad Bautista, 30, waived his right to a detention hearing following his arraignment Friday in U.S. District Court, and federal marshals took him back to jail.

Mr. Bautista was originally charged in state court two weeks ago after police said he drove to West Mifflin for sex with the girl, now 15, whom he had met online about two years ago. A federal grand jury indicted him Dec. 17, and the case will now proceed in federal court.

Mr. Bautista, of North Las Vegas, is charged with two counts of attempted coercion of a minor and a count of traveling with intent to have sex with a minor.

According to authorities, Mr. Bautista contacted the girl online when she was 13, telling her he wanted to have sex with her and

travel cross-country to marry her.

He continued to communicate with her on Instagram despite the intervention of her parents, who told him to stop contacting her.

The FBI got involved in August of this year when an agent adopted the girl’s persona on her social media account. As the conversations continued, police said, Mr. Bautista sent graphic messages and in some cases issued threats to kill the girl when the agent didn’t respond quickly enough online.

Eventually he decided to make the journey to Pittsburgh.

He told police he left Las Vegas on Dec. 5 and drove for three days to West Mifflin, sleeping in his car along the way.

Authorities found him in a stolen Cadillac outside the girl’s house on Dec. 9 and took him into custody.