Immigrant arrested for raping toddler and videotaping the sexual assault, Las Vegas police say

May 4, 2017
Tara Dodrill

A Hispanic immigrant has been arrested for allegedly raping a toddler in Las Vegas. The man accused of raping a 4-year-old girl and videotaping the entire sexual assault on his cellphone has been placed on an immigrant detainer. It is not currently known if the accused child rapist is a legal or illegal immigrant.

Julio Cesar Medrano, 23, also goes by the alias, “Julio Rodriguez.” The Las Vegas resident was arrested on child rape charges on April 21. The sexual assault happened on April 3, according to the time stamp on the 30-second cellphone video, police investigators.

Julio Medrano was arrested after a woman found the video appearing to depict the immigrant raping the child. A tattoo on the hand of the man in the alleged child rape video aided Las Vegas law enforcement investigators in identifying the suspect, the Daily Mail reports.

Julio Medrano has been charged with seven criminal counts in connection with the child sexual assault case. The charges levied against the Hispanic immigrant include sexual assault against a child younger than 14, child abuse or neglect, producing and possessing child pornography, possession of a dangerous weapon, and carrying a concealed knife without a permit, according to the Clark County Detention Center online records database.

Medrano is being held without bond pending the outcome of a preliminary hearing slated for June 1. The sexual assault suspect’s relationship to the child remains unknown. Las Vegas police officers have not yet shared details about the toddler rape victim or the ongoing investigation with the media.

Three out of four American child sexual abuse victim are reportedly assaulted by someone they known. Children who do not live in a home where both parents are present, in a dysfunctional household, or a residence where domestic violence occurs, are reportedly placed at a higher risk for being sexually abused.

A Violence Policy Center study generated in 2014, found Las Vegas was one of the worst states in the union for domestic violence, the Las Vegas Sun reports. In 2013 alone a total of 540 substantiated child sexual abuse cases occurred in Nevada.

Clark County has just a slightly lower child abuse rate than the state average, according to 2016 statistics shared by the Prevent Child Abuse Nevada organization. Twenty percent of the 22,883 child abuse cases opened in Clark County last year were substantiated.

As previously reported by the Inquisitr, one of the most horrific child sexual abuse cases in the past decade occurred in the Nevada city. In 2015, A Las Vegas teenager victim gave birth to her stepfather’s baby. The teenager and her child reportedly survived on water down baby formula, leaving the baby severely malnourished. The girl allegedly hid the corpse of her 3-year-old toddler, also conceived out of rape with her stepdad, in the family’s garage.

Research by the Crimes Against Children Research Center revealed one in five girls in the United States have been a victim of child sexual assault. One in every 20 boys in America also reports being sexually abused. A study conducted by the center found 20 percent of women have been the victim of a childhood sexual abuse or sexual assault. Five to 10 percent of adult American males report having been sexually assaulted or abused as a child.

During a single year in the United States, a total of 16 percent of American youth aged 14 to 17 are sexually victimized, the same nationwide organization found through its research and studies. Children are reportedly most vulnerable to child sexual assault when they are between the ages of seven and 13, the Crimes Against Children Research Center also discovered.

http://www.inquisitr.com/4194689/imm...as-police-say/