BOSTON -- A carnival worker was arrested this month and charged with raping a girl he met while he was working at a July Fourth carnival in Wilmington.

Robert Wilson, 18, of North Dighton, is accused of raping the 13-year-old girl in a wooded trail near the Wilmington High School on July 5, the Wilmington Town Crier reported.

Police said Wilson met the girl one day earlier while he was operating a basketball free-throw game at the town carnival. Wilson allegedly told the girl he was 15 and arranged to meet with her for a “walk” in the woods, where the two engaged in oral sex.

Wilson then forced the girl to engage in sexual intercourse, police said, and told her to buy birth control after their encounter.

Department of Public Works employees who were near the trail spotted the two in the woods at about 6:30 p.m. and flagged down a bicycle police officer, who arrested Wilson.

Wilson was charged with rape of a child by force, indecent assault and battery of a child under 14 and statutory rape of a child, the Town Crier reported.

Wilson was an employee of Fiesta Shows, which operated the July Fourth carnival in Wilmington. Fiesta Shows was required to provide a list of all its employees to town officials to get a contract for the carnival and police said Wilson passed a background check before the incident.

“From our background check (on Wilson), there was nothing, no previous incidents in any way related to what has been alleged,” said Wilmington Police Chief Michael Begonis.

When he was arrested, Wilson told police that there was a misunderstanding between himself and the girl, but he declined to answer any questions without an attorney, the Town Crier reported.

Wilson was held on $1,000 cash bail and ordered not to have contact with children under 16.