Illegal alien arrested in molestation case...

Fontana man arrested in molestation case


10:00 PM PDT on Friday, March 28, 2008



By PAUL LAROCCO and ZEKE MINAYA
The Press-Enterprise





ONTARIO - For the third time in four years, a Fontana man has been accused of molesting a young child after befriending the family and moving in.

Ontario police detectives said Friday that they hope it will be the first charge that sticks.

Rafael Rodriguez Valadez, 32, was arrested Wednesday night at a restaurant off Interstate 15 in Ontario. He has pleaded not guilty to a charge of committing a forcible lewd act on a girl, 6, in 2003, records show.

Rodriguez, who is in the country illegally, is being held without bail on an immigration warrant. He previously has been deported to Mexico, said Ontario police Detective Al Parra.

Rodriguez was charged with sexually assaulting minors in 2005 and 2006, but those two allegations, involving three children, were dismissed before going to trial.

The new case is stronger, Parra said, adding that he believes there could be more victims not yet discovered. The Ontario Police Department released a statement calling Rodriguez "a serial child molester."

"This amount (of accusations) is a rarity," Parra said. "Usually they don't get away with it this long. Usually, it gets stopped with the first one or two."

The current charge stems from a report that Rodriguez molested an Ontario girl, who now lives in Fontana, sometime in 2003, Parra said. Like the previous cases, Parra said that Rodriguez is alleged to have befriended the child's family and moved into her home.

Detectives received the complaint in January 2007 but couldn't find Rodriguez. After more than a year, they learned he was working at an Ontario fast-food restaurant and renting a room in a north Fontana tract home.

'Just Completely Shocking'

Alex Perez, 25, whose parents rented Rodriguez the room, said he was surprised to learn of the accusation from a detective this week. No young children live in the home, he said.

"He never gave off that vibe," Perez said Friday in front of the home. "It was just completely shocking."

In September 2005, Rodriguez was charged with lewd acts on twin 9-year-olds in Ontario -- a boy and a girl -- Parra said. San Bernardino County Superior Court records show that the case was dropped in February 2006, days before a jury trial was set to begin.

Within three weeks of being released from jail, Rodriguez was arrested and charged again, this time with lewd acts, forcible lewd acts, sodomy and penetration with a foreign object on an 8-year-old Ontario girl.

Two weeks after his arraignment, that case also was dropped. The prosecutor for the two cases, San Bernardino County Deputy District Attorney Jason Anderson, could not be reached for comment Friday.

Parra said there were problems with ensuring the victims' cooperation and their recollections of the events.

"With victims that old, they're not accustomed to speaking in court," Parra said. "There are problems with getting them to speak out against the adult."

In all of the alleged incidents, the man is suspected of making death threats to the children and their families if they spoke up, Parra said.

Deputy District Attorney Michele Daly said the girl in the most recent case and her family have been cooperative. She said she couldn't comment on the two previous cases.

Detectives also are investigating a possible molestation complaint against Rodriguez from 1993. Parra said he had not been able to determine whether there had been an arrest or charges in that case.

An Ontario police news release about the arrest stated that there were six victims, but Parra said only four had been definitely identified -- including the three victims in the cases in which charges were dismissed.

Perez said Rodriguez had lived with his family for less than a year and had a girlfriend. The man usually went straight to his bedroom without socializing, he said.

Perez thought Rodriguez was in a church choir, he said, and he sometimes heard him singing and playing a guitar.

'Calm, Helpful Guy'

Daren Salazar, 16, whose family also had opened its home to Rodriguez, said Friday that he saw no questionable behavior.

Describing Rodriguez as a "very calm, helpful guy," Salazar said he lived with his family for several years until 2006.

Salazar's younger siblings were both younger than age 10 when Rodriguez lived with his family, he said, and he doesn't believe they were victimized.

"If he had a problem, he wouldn't bring it into the house," he said Friday. "At the same time, he was very open."

Salazar said he was too young to remember, but he thought his family may have met Rodriguez at an Ontario church. He recalled seeing Rodriguez at church after he was released from jail when one of the molestation cases was dropped, he said.

He said he understood the accusations against Rodriguez but "couldn't help feeling bad for him."

Anyone with information is asked to call Parra at 909-395- 2752 or Ontario police Detective Gary Narranjo at 909-395-2764.



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