WHEELING, W. Va. -- For ten months, the trail seemed cold.

Thursday night, DNA evidence re-ignited the case of an 11-year-old girl from north Wheeling who was abducted, raped and released in February.

Wheeling Police Chief Kevin Gessler announced in a Friday news conference that federal authorities had sought an arrest warrant against Joshua Michael Ridings, 28, of Owensboro, Kentucky.

Sharon Potter, Assistant U. S. Attorney for the Northern District of West Virginia, said Friday that Ridings was charged with a single count of crossing a state line with the intent to engage in a sexual act with a person who had not attained the age of 12 years.

Ridings is accused of abducting the girl in Wheeling on Feb. 20, 2007 and sexually assaulting her in Belmont County, Ohio.

Potter has sought a detainer against Ridings, who is currently in a Kentucky jail on an unrelated probation violation charge.

In October, local investigators released details of a similar case in Kentucky involving an adult victim.

Investigators said that victim said her assailant had a tattoo resembling a ring of barbed wire on his arm.

An officer in Kentucky noticed a similar tattoo on Ridings' arm and notified investigators working on both cases.

DNA evidence also links Ridings to the sexual assault and abduction, Potter said.

Ridings was arrested in Indiana in June of this year after he was accused of entering a woman's apartment and exposing himself.

He spent 30 minutes in jail and posted a $300 bond.

On Ridings' personal Web site on MySpace.com, he described himself as "fun-loving and generally considerate of others' feelings."

He listed "Livin' it up all the way to my last breath" among his interests.

He also identified himself as a "proud parent" and noted that he had just gotten out of the army.

The young victim in the Wheeling case was relieved to hear of the arrest, according to her mother.

"I've seen a whole other side of her," said the child's mother, whom NEWS9 has chosen not to identify. "It took a lot of burden off of her, a lot of fear."

Ridings will not be able to post bond while he's being held on the federal detainer, which is one of the reasons the U.S. Attorney's office filed the first charges.

"We went with the federal charges, basically as a sure-fire way we could lodge a detainer in Kentucky and make sure there was no way he'd be released on any type of bond down there," said Potter.

U. S. Marshals will bring Ridings to Wheeling, but Potter could not say how soon that would happen.

The federal charge against Ridings carries a minimum penalty of 30 years in prison with a maximum penalty of life in prison and a fine of $250,000.

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