08/16/2007
Suspected illegal alien charged after allegedly touching girl, 8
By RICHARD PAYERCHIN , Sandusky Bureau Chief

HURON -- A man suspected of being an illegal alien was charged with gross sexual imposition after he was accused of entering an apartment and lying down next to and touching the thigh of a sleeping 8-year-old girl, according to Huron police.
Lucio Sanchez-Martinez, 32, also was charged with entering the apartment where the girl lived with her father and two other children, said Huron police Chief Randy Glovinsky.

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Huron police began investigating the morning of Aug. 8, when they received a call for a sex offense investigation, according to the police report.

When officers arrived at an apartment building in the 600 block of Cleveland Road about 9:30 a.m., they found Sanchez-Martinez and the girl's father had gotten into a physical altercation, the report said.

The girl told police she was sleeping and awoke to find a man lying next to her and rubbing her thigh, Glovinsky said. The girl said the man pretended to be asleep but had a smile on his face, according to the report.

The girl went into another room and told her father who then left the apartment to confront the man, Glovinsky said.

The father found Sanchez-Martinez and said Sanchez-Martinez threw a punch at him, according to the police report. The father told police he ducked the punch, then punched Sanchez-Martinez in the face and threw him down a flight of stairs. Sanchez-Martinez suffered slight injuries, but the father was not charged in the incident, Glovinsky said.

Sanchez-Martinez did not live in the building, but apparently was visiting someone there, Glovinsky said.

He did not know the family and entered the apartment through an unlocked door, the chief said.

''The guy has no reason to be in that apartment whatsoever,'' Glovinsky said. ''They didn't know him. He just walked in.''

It was unclear if drugs or alcohol were a factor in the incident, Glovinsky said. Police contacted immigration officials and found Sanchez-Martinez is an illegal alien who has been deported at least once, Glovinsky said.

Sanchez-Martinez is due in Huron Municipal Court Friday for a preliminary hearing, according to court records. He is being held in the Erie County Jail.





©The Morning Journal 2007
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