BATON ROUGE — Baton Rouge Police are searching for a man accused of raping a preteen girl between 2019 and 2021.

Santroy Barshae Jefferson, 35, allegedly raped a girl for multiple years before the child and her mother moved from Baton Rouge to North Carolina.

In March 2021, authorities in North Carolina contacted Baton Rouge Police concerning the allegations. According to an arrest warrant signed on Thursday, Jefferson allegedly sexually assaulted and raped the young girl four separate times between January 2019 and January 2021.

During the encounters, Jefferson allegedly told the young girl "not to tell anybody what happened," the warrant said.

The girl, who was 9 years old when North Carolina authorities contacted BRPD, "was afraid of him," the warrant said.

Jefferson faces one count each of sexual battery and indecent behavior with juveniles, as well as three counts of first-degree rape.