Judge Marieli Paradizo Pérez determined cause for arrest this afternoon for sexual assault and abuse of minors against Néstor Rivas Meléndez, 24, and who allegedly raped his 10-year-old stepdaughter last Saturday.
The magistrate set the bail at $4 million but he was thrown in jail for not being able to pay it.
Rivas Meléndez called the authorities yesterday, Sunday, and then came running to the police headquarters to turn himself in for fear of being killed by his neighbors.
Agent Layne Y. Lebrón, assigned to the Division of Sexual Crimes and Child Abuse of the Criminal Investigation Corps of Aibonito, gave him the warnings of the law and notified him that he had the right to remain silent, but the young man allegedly admitted to having committed sexual abuse against the minor, according to Lieutenant Edgardo González, director of the Criminal Investigation Corps (CIC) of the Aibonito police area.
According to Lebrón’s investigation, the events occurred on Saturday, November 13, at around 9:55 p.m. at the residence of the young man’s partner.
When he went to the police dept., the man was allegedly afraid that the residents of the Liborio Ortiz public housing project – where the events occurred – were going to kill him after they allegedly tried to lynch him yesterday.
It is alleged that a group of residents of the aforementioned housing complex learned of the situation and proceeded to break the windows of his Jeep.
“The girl was transported to the Aibonito Mennonite Hospital to be evaluated by the doctor on duty,” reported the Aibonito district attorney, Ernesto J. Quesada Ojeda.
Presumably, Rivas Meléndez “threatened the minor with killing her mother or her dog if she related the abuse,” confirmed Quesada Ojeda.
“It is a sad case and a reprehensible performance. We are working with the sensitivity and empathy that the victim deserves, protecting her identity and avoiding revictimizing ”the girl, said the Secretary of Justice, Domingo Emanuelli Hernández.
