Rape suspect has juvenile record of child assaults



Mike Peters

A man arrested Sunday for raping a 12-year-old girl in west Greeley had a record of sexually assaulting girls under 15 and spent a year in juvenile prison.



Raul Jesus Mendoza, 19, was listed as a sex offender before the weekend incident, in which he is accused of taking a 12-year-old girl into his west Greeley apartment and raping her.



According to Greeley police records, Mendoza was a juvenile when he was arrested on other child sexual assaults.



He was arrested when he was 16 on a misdemeanor sexual assault charge, which was dismissed. In that case, he was accused of inappropriately touching a girl younger than 15.



When he was 17, according to police records, Mendoza was convicted of sexual assault on a child younger than 15 and sexual assault using force. He was sentenced to two years in juvenile corrections. He served a little more than a year and was released back to Greeley.



At that time, Mendoza was placed on the sex offender list, but not the Web site because of state laws prohibiting juveniles' names from appearing on the list if they had one conviction.



In the assault last week, Weld District Court arrest warrants state that Mendoza took the girl into a bedroom and forced himself on her, even though the girl "asked him to stop repeatedly."



The 12-year-old and her sister were at the apartment complex to visit a friend, the warrant stated, when Mendoza took the girl into a bedroom, removed her clothes and raped her. Mendoza also was visiting the apartment, but he lives in another building of the complex.



The victim's sister went up to the bedroom, according to the warrant, and saw the rape taking place and told Mendoza to stop. The warrant stated the victim later told her sister, "Thank you for stopping him."



Mendoza's bond Tuesday was raised to $200,000 from $150,000.



There also is n Immigration and Customs Enforcement hold on him, as agents are checking to see if Mendoza is in the country illegally.



SEX OFFENDER LISTS



Greeley police records show that the sex offender list in Greeley now contains 238 names. Some of those are not on the Web site, but a printed list can be obtained from the records office, 1950 O St. To view the Web site, go to greeleypd.com/sexoffenders/map.asp. You can also access the Weld County Sheriff's Office list of sex offenders from that site.


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