CLEBURNE (October 13, 2009)--Dennis Ray Griffith, 52, of Morgan was arrested just after 7 a.m. Tuesday at his home on a warrant charging aggravated sexual assault that stems from the abduction and sexual assault of a 13-year-old Cleburne girl in 1999.

Griffith’s bond was set at $250,000.

He was in the Johnson County Jail late Tuesday morning.

The girl was abducted on Sept. 27, 1999 as she walked from her home to a school bus stop.

After what police described as a brutal attack, she was left at a rural cemetery, from which she started walking in search of someone with a phone, police said.

A woman who was driving to work spotted the girl, let her use a telephone and then took her to a hospital where she was reunited with her parents, police said.

Ten days after the 10th anniversary of the abduction, Cleburne police got the word that a DNA match had been made and based on that, officers were able to obtain an arrest warrant.

“Not a week has gone by that my team of detectives and I have not thought of the victim and this crime. We were always confident that it would clear at some point,” said Cleburne Police Chief T. D. Powell, who was the supervisor of the Criminal Investigations Division at the time of the kidnapping.

“I very much look forward to seeing Mr. Griffith at trial,” he said.

Police said the victim, who is now in her 20s “was elated at the news that her attacker had been caught.”