Teenage girl arrested after being 'raped' by stepfather and left to give birth unaided in US

The 17-year-old claimed she was forced to conceal the body of her three-year-old sister, who died after they were abandoned together in Las Vegas

The girl was found wandering the streets of Las Vegas

A 17-year-old girl who gave birth to her stepfather’s child after he allegedly raped her has been released from prison, where she was being held on abuse allegations.

She was arrested when she was found wandering the streets of Las Vegas with the starving baby after being abandoned by the man and her mother.

Police also discovered the body of her half-sister at their home in Las Vegas, which she claimed she concealed on the orders of stepfather Jondrew Lachaux, 39.

A spokesperson for the Clark County District Attorney’s office said the girl had been held in connection with the child abuse case involving Lachaux and her mother, 38-year-old Kellie Phillips, who are still in custody.

But she was released from juvenile detention on Monday and will not face any criminal charges.

Jondrew Lachaux was arrested on child abuse charges after allegedly abandoned the three children (AP)

“This child is a victim in this case and can best receive appropriate and necessary services through the dependency court system and Family Services”, District Attorney Steve Wolfson said.

Her four-month-old child has been released from hospital after treatment for severe malnutrition and has also been handed to child protection services.

The North Las Vegas Police Department is continuing to investigate the case after Lachaux and Phillips’ three-year-old daughter was found dead in the back seat of a broken-down car in their garage earlier this month.

They were arrested on allegations that they abandoned the child and teenage girl, who was unaware she was pregnant at the time, to take their five other children to Oakland in California for eight months.

Kellie Phillips has been arrested on child abuse charges after allegedly abandoning her daughters aged 17 and three (AP)

The teenager claimed they were left because her half-sister was already ill and they would not fit in the car.

The other children — aged one, four, seven, eight and nine — were found with Phillips in good health and are now in care.

Lachaux and Phillips were due to appear in court later this week on charges of child abuse.

The 17-year-old girl, Phillips’ daughter from a previous relationship, told police she gave birth at home last November with no medical care and that her step-father had raped her.

Her ill three-year-old half sister died several weeks ago, she said, and the parents initially ignored her phone calls and texts.

Lachaux is said to have returned to the house in late March and moved his daughter's decomposing corpse to the car, covering it with old pizza boxes.

He then kicked the teenager out of the house, police said, and she slept rough for several days on the Las Vegas Strip and McCarran International Airport before a passer-by noticed her ill baby and called the police.

The infant is recovering after being hospitalised in a critical condition for severe malnutrition and hypothermia.

Additional reporting by AP