Holly Hill, FL - Authorities are stepping up with cash for whoever steps up with information leading to the arrest of a 63-year-old man for sexually abusing his young granddaughter for years.
During a press conference this afternoon (January 23rd) at the Volusia County Emergency Operations Center, Sheriff Mike Chitwood offered a $5,000 reward to anyone who helps them put Audran M. Butler in handcuffs.
The reward is a last-ditch effort to catch Butler, a man Chitwood says used to hang around the front lobby of Daytona Beach Police Department headquarters and talk to cops frequently when he was still the city's police chief.
"We've exhaused all investigative leads to pick him up," Chitwood added. "What it's come down to now is, somebody's harboring him."
Chitwood says it's likely that Butler is still somewhere in the Daytona Beach area and he's hoping the money will help convince whoever is hiding Butler to turn him in.
Holly Hill Police Department Chief Steve Aldrich says the victim - who was 8 years old when the alleged abuse started, per the charging affidavit - came forward around four or five years later, telling investigators that the secret was eating her up inside and she couldn't hold it in any longer. That's when she texted the details to her mother during a trip out of state in June 2017.
Aldrich also noted that Butler disappeared soon after he denied molesting his granddaughter during a police interview shortly after his daughter went to HHPD in the summer of 2017. HHPD got the warrant for his arrest shortly following that interview.
According to the charging affidavit, Butler forced the girl to witness and perform various sex acts to or on him over the years, including intercourse. He also showed her pornographic video and images and shared marijuana joints with the girl during many of those incidents, per the report.
The report also noted that the sex acts took place in two locations, one being Butler's home in Holly Hill and the other a motel on West International Speedway Boulevard in Daytona Beach. It also shows Butler admitting to police that he did show porn to the girl and provided her marijuana at times.
Volusia County Jail records show Butler's been booked there three times since December 2010, with the most recent being September 2012 for retail theft. He's also been booked in the past for possession of cocaine and cannabis.
