Published Wednesday July 29, 2009

Suspect in rape of child ‘gone'
By Todd Cooper
WORLD-HERALD STAFF WRITER

What does it cost to avoid a sexual assault prosecution?

For an illegal immigrant in Omaha, the going rate was $20,000.

It was a rate set by the government — and a rate that resulted in the release of an alleged child rapist.

In March, Diego Alcudia-Mendez, 45, turned himself in at the Douglas County Jail and admitted that he had impregnated a 14-year-old girl, according to Omaha police reports.

The girl confirmed Alcudia-Mendez's account and her pregnancy. And prosecutors said paternity tests on her child would have cinched a first-degree sexual assault conviction under a state law that makes it illegal for adults to have sex with anyone under 16.

But as he sat in jail, facing the prospect of 50 years in prison, Alcudia-Mendez figured a way out.

On April 17, he posted $10,000 — 10 percent of the $100,000 bail set at the outset of his case by Douglas County Judge Joseph Caniglia.

Still, the illegal immigrant had a problem: Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents were holding him, without bail, as he awaited deportation proceedings.

So Alcudia-Mendez asked a judge to set bail in federal court.

U.S. Immigration Judge Daniel Morris of Omaha granted Alcudia-Mendez's request — setting bail at $100,000 on May 13.

Soon after, Alcudia-Mendez posted $10,000, the required 10 percent, with ICE.

Authorities haven't seen him since. He missed his deportation hearing in June and skipped two pretrial hearings in his sexual assault case — prompting Douglas County District Judge John Hartigan to issue a bench warrant for his arrest.

“He's gone,â€