A MAN who was with Rosie O’Donnell’s missing daughter Chelsea O’Donnell last week has been arrested on charges of distribution of obscenity to a minor and endangering the welfare of a child, authorities said.

    Steven Sheerer, 25, a resident of Barnegat, New Jersey, was picked up Aug. 21 after investigators examined the 17-year-old girl’s cell phone, according to a statement from Ocean County Prosecutor Joseph Coronato.

    The comedian tweeted Aug. 18 that her daughter had been found and was with police.

    The prosecutor’s statement did not identify the minor but Barnegat police said Chelsea was found in Sheerer’s home.

    Sheerer is being held in the Ocean County Jail, with bail set at US$40,000, the statement said. A judge ordered that he have no contact with the girl or her family.

    Each third-degree count against Sheerer carries a possible penalty of five years in prison.

    Cindi Berger, a spokeswoman for Rosie O’Donnell, said earlier this week that Chelsea ran away from home and was last seen by her family Aug. 11.

    The 17-year-old left home with her 6-month-old therapy dog, a black terrier named Bear, Rosie O’Donnell said in a statement on her website. Chelsea had stopped taking medication for an undisclosed mental illness and “is in need of medical attention,” the statement said.

    “Chelsea, like millions of people, lives with mental illness,” Berger said while the teenager was still missing.

    (SD-Agencies)