A Papa John’s pizza deliveryman, Mark Buede, was honored last Tuesday during the Lexington Police annual awards banquet for calling the police and helping to rescue two girls from abuse by their father.
Buede said, he “just knew it wasn’t right” and informed the police after he saw a naked girl on a bed when he was delivering pizza to the Catalina Motel in Lexington last November, the Lexington Herald-Leader reported.
An account of the incident was recorded during the awards program of the annual awards banquet that was held at the Lexington Convention Center, organized by the Lexington Police Department.
Three Lexington police officers responded to the motel and found two girls hiding in the room. It later turned out after that the man had indeed been abusing his daughters.
Justin Elam, 36, was charged with multiple counts of rape and sexual abuse. “After knocking on the door to the room, they heard a ‘scream’ from a young girl,” the police department stated in the account. The officers found “two young girls hiding behind a bed.”
The discovery would ultimately lead to the arrest of Justin Elam, the father, who is now charged with multiple counts of rape and sexual abuse, including that of his own daughters, one of which was younger than the age of 12.
Detectives allegedly also found many disturbing videos shortly after his arrest of Elam with girls, one of which at least was under 16, WKYT reported.
According to the arrest citation, Elam is charged with abusing both his daughters; charges of which police found evidence as well, according to Crime online.
But without Buede’s phone call, the girls would still be suffering from abuse, police said.
“I’ve got kids,” Buede said. “I’m going to protect kids if I can,” the Lexington Herald-Leader reported.
Buede received a public service medal, and officers William Phillips, Zakary Ridener, and Corey Sutton received professional esteem awards.
The department praised the officers’ teamwork as “a testament to their duty to serve and protect, which has earned the esteem of colleagues and supervisors.”