Police arrest Lauderdale Lakes man, 23, after 13-year-old gives birth to baby she says is his

A 13-year-old girl gave birth to a boy on Jan. 26, and police have arrested the man who the girl believes is her child’s father.

Anthony Alex Brown, 23, of Lauderdale Lakes, was arrested Tuesday in Fort Lauderdale on one count of a lewd and lascivious act against a victim between 12 and 16 years old.

The girl’s mother called Lauderhill Police in June when she learned the girl was seven weeks pregnant after her mother took her to a local hospital because she was nauseous and vomiting, according to an arrest warrant.

The girl’s mother told police she wanted to pursue charges against Brown. Police found sexually explicit text messages in WhatsApp between the girl and Brown on her cellphone, the warrant says, from February 2021 through June.

In one of the messages, the girl wrote that she wanted to have a baby. Brown responded that her mother would “kill” her and that he would go to jail, writing, “ur just 13 think about it,” the warrant says.

Brown wrote in a text message in May to the girl that if she told anyone about their relationship he would “shoot,” according to the warrant.

The girl said Brown was a friend of a relative, the warrant says, and that she told police she and Brown met up one to two times a week at her home while her mom was at work from January 2021 through June. She only told her mother about Brown after learning she was pregnant, the warrant says.

Brown has since been released after paying a $75,000 bond, court records show, and was ordered to surrender his Jamaican passport.