SELLERSBURG — A Lanesville man was arrested Thursday and charged in the rape of a 16-year-old New Albany girl.

Lee Edward Allen, 24, was arrested about 1:40 a.m. after he was located in Gaming Utopia on Vincennes Street in New Albany by the New Albany Police Department.

Allen is accused of taking the girl to a residence he was staying at St. Joe Road in Sellersburg on Wednesday afternoon, providing her alcohol and sexually forcing himself on the teenager.

Investigators with the Clark County Sheriff’s Department said Allen and the girl first met about a month ago at Gaming Utopia. The two had not seen each other since their first meeting until Wednesday, but kept in contact through text messaging and Facebook, deputies said.

Allen and the juvenile decided to meet at the girl’s New Albany home at about 3:30 p.m. Wednesday.

At the home, Allen was introduced to the teenager’s mother. Deputies said that the mother asked Allen how old he was and he told her he was 18 years old.

Allen and the girl then went to a home on St. Joe Road, deputies said, where Allen gave the girl alcoholic drinks in a detached garage on the property. Deputies said the two spent time in the garage, before Allen led her to a room in the outbuilding made into a makeshift bedroom.

According to the sheriff’s department investigation, Allen pushed the girl onto the bed, tied her hands down with a belt, pulled off her clothing and raped her.

After the crime, the girl was able to break free one of her hands, then the other.

Deputies said the girl quickly gathered her clothes and ran from the garage nude.

At the end of the driveway, the girl put on her clothing and used her cell phone to call a friend to pick her up.

Deputies did not say exactly what time the girl was able to escape, but when she left the garage it was still light outside.

Deputies said the girl’s family began looking for Allen on Wednesday night and located his vehicle at Gaming Utopia. After his vehicle was found, the family contacted police.

New Albany police entered the business and arrested Allen without incident and took Allen to Clark County sheriff’s deputies, who took him into custody and booked him into Michael L. Becher Adult Correctional Complex.

Deputies said the accounts given by the girl and Allen of what happened Wednesday afternoon in the Sellersburg garage are mostly consistent, excluding the consent of the girl to have intercourse with Allen.

Deputies said injuries to girl’s wrist were consistent with being tied up. Allen told police it was the girl’s idea that he tie down her arms.

Allen was charged with rape, a class B felony, and contributing to the delinquency of a minor.

The latter charge is often issued as an A misdemeanor, but considering the age of the suspect and victim and that the charge occurred during the commission of a felony, the charge was elevated to a class C felony.

Allen is scheduled to appear today [Friday] for an initial hearing in Clark County Circuit Court No. 1.