LAKE CITY -- A 2nd Judicial Circuit deputy prosecutor dropped a sexual-assault charge against a former pastor Monday, saying the victim no longer wants to cooperate in the prosecution.

Charles Hughes, a former Monette Church of Christ pastor, was charged in March 2012 after police said he helped harbor a teenager at home for two months. The girl was reported missing from her Fairbury, Neb., home on Jan. 20, 2012.

Police said they found the girl, a relative of Hughes' wife, in a Monette apartment in March 2012 by tracking cellphone records.

Hughes was arrested and held in the Craighead County jail in lieu of a $100,000 bond.

On Monday, Senior Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Mike Walden dropped the charge in Craighead County Circuit Court in Lake City.

"Before terminating all communication with the State, she made it clear that she wanted to drop the charges, put this matter behind her and get on with her life," Walden said of the victim in a statement. "The State would not be able to prove this case without her cooperation."

State Desk on 06/10/2014