Thread: Police Say Man Molested Boy,9

HERALD NEWS
Police say man molested boy, 9

Thursday, March 29, 2007

By NAVID IQBAL
HERALD NEWS



CLIFTON -- A 24-year-old man was arrested on charges of luring a 9-year-old boy to his apartment on Tuesday and then sexually assaulting him, police said.

Police are investigating if other alleged victims have not come forward because of a language barrier.


Raphael Moreno-Garcia was arrested early Wednesday following a seven-hour interrogation after allegedly confessing to luring the boy into his apartment and touching the boy's buttocks for sexual self-gratification, Detective Lt. Rich Berdnik said.

Police did not identify the street where the suspect was staying, so as not to compromise the identity of the juvenile victim, who lived next door. Berdnik did say the suspect and victim lived in the eastern part of the city.

The boy was playing soccer with his friends Tuesday afternoon, when the soccer ball landed in the suspect's backyard.

The boy went into the backyard to retrieve the ball when the suspect convinced him to come upstairs to get a better view of the yard and find the ball, police said.

After he was criminally touched, the boy ran home and told his mother, who called police to the scene, Berdnik said.

Detectives Chris Stabile and Eddie Ruiz interviewed the suspect, who they say confessed to the acts. Police later determined that Moreno-Garcia entered the country illegally and notified Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials, Berdnik said.

Moreno-Garcia was charged with committing an act of sexual assault on a minor, luring, and enticing a juvenile for the purpose of committing a sexual offense, Berdnik said. Moreno-Garcia is being held on $100,000 bail at the Clifton jail awaiting transfer to the Passaic County Jail.

Anyone with information on the case is urged to call Detective Stabile at 973-470-5884. Spanish speakers will be referred to Detective Ruiz.




http://www.northjersey.com/page.php?qst ... FlZUVFeXkz

This is yet another reason why I am trying to get my town to get officers trained in the 287g program. The county jail is in Waukegan -criminals, those on probation, registered sex-offenders are everywhere. If they could screen in the jail or just pick them up a tradegy like this could be adverted.