A 15-year-old Paterson girl who authorities say was abducted by an unauthorized immigrant and forced to perform sex acts as he drove her to Chicago told police he wanted to make her his “housewife.”

An Ohio State Highway Patrol trooper stopped their car outside Toledo for a traffic violation Tuesday and sensed something wasn’t right, according to highway patrol Lt. Vern E. Fisher.

After the trooper got a translator and other authorities involved, the teen who had been denying anything was wrong admitted that Juan Carlos Morales-Pedraza, 35, had forced her to perform sex acts.

“He told her they would go to Chicago and he would work and she could be a housewife,” Fisher said Thursday. He described the girl as “brainwashed” and said she only confirmed the alleged sexual assaults after police found photos and videos on their cell phones.

Fisher said the pair were neighbors in Paterson, and the girl’s family reported her missing recently. She was treated at an Ohio hospital before the state’s child welfare agency made arrangements to get her back to her family in New Jersey, he said.

Fisher said Trooper Mitch Ross should be credited with following his instincts during the traffic stop Tuesday on Interstate 80 in Swanton. “Who knows what was going to happen to this girl when they got to Chicago,” Fisher said.

Ross stopped the car for failing to move over, Fisher said, and the trooper noted the age difference between the occupants and that neither of them had identification or spoke English. He called a patrol translator to the scene and then contacted U.S. Customs and Border Protection, which confirmed that Morales-Pedraza, a Mexican nationale who had been deported before, was in the country illegally, Fisher said.

Police took the pair to a local police department, where troopers involved more investigators as well, and got the warrants for the phones.

“Their stories didn’t match up,” Fisher said, and it was odd that they would travel to Chicago with no luggage. Morales-Pedraza swore they were just friends, he said, and the girl initially told police she was 22 years old and denied being held against her will.

But when police confronted her about the photos and videos on the phones, she said that Morales-Pedraza had forced her to perform the sex acts, Fisher said.

He said Trooper Ross’ suspicions were accurate.

“You slow down, investigate and use proper resources to figure it out," he said. "Human trafficking is so hard to find and do anything about because the victims are typically brainwashed to think they’ve got to do what the suspect says.”

Morales-Pedraza is expected to appear in court in Ohio Thursday on an abduction charge, but he could be facing additional charges, police said.

Paterson Police Director Jerry Speziale said his department is working with Ohio authorities to determine how Morales-Pedraza met the girl and the circumstances in which they left the state. Local charges are possible, he said, but it will be up to the Passaic County Prosecutor’s Office to determine that.

Requests for comment from the Passaic prosecutor’s office were not immediately returned Thursday morning.

Rebecca Everett may be reached at reverett@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @rebeccajeverett. Find NJ.com on Facebook.

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