Man charged in second child-sex assault
By Joey Bunch
The Denver Post

Article Launched: 07/29/2008 05:00:53 PM MDT

A suspected illegal immigrant arrested Sunday night is accused of his second sexual assault on a child in less than three years, according to law-enforcement authorities and public records.

Raul Jesus Mendoza, 19, is accused of coaxing a 12-year-old girl into the bedroom of a friend's apartment during a party there last weekend, said Greeley Police Sgt. Joe Tymkowych.

There, he allegedly fondled and raped the girl.

"Some witnesses opened the bedroom door and saw what was going on and told him to stop and get out of there," Tymkowych said.

The girl told her parents Sunday, and Mendoza was arrested a short time later.

The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency has requested that local authorities hold onto Mendoza, whom they believe to be a Mexican national. No bond has been set for Mendoza, according to Weld County Jail records.

Mendoza is a registered sex offender but his name does not appear on lists publicized on state and local law enforcement because his first conviction happened when he was 17, a juvenile under Colorado law.

Mendoza was convicted of sexual assault by force on a person under 15 years old on Aug. 16, 2005, records show.

State law keeps juveniles off the publicized sexual offenders' list, Tymkowych said, though the information about the location of sexual offenders, including unnamed juveniles, is available upon request from local law-enforcement agencies, he said.

If a juvenile convicted of a sex offense is arrested a second time, he or she is charged as an adult and the information is publicized the same way the community is notified about all those on the list, he said.

Mendoza also was arrested on Aug. 4, 2007, by Greeley police on charges of having a ficticious license plate, no proof of insurance and no valid driver's license, according to Weld County records. He posted $1,000 bail and had an arrest warrant for failure to appear in court to answer those charges when he was picked up Sunday.

He is currently in the Weld County Jail on suspicion of felony charges of sexual assault on a child and unlawful sexual contact.

Carl Rusnok, a Dallas-based regional spokesman for the ICE, the agency has no record of being notified about Mendoza until his most recent arrest.

"Therefore, it appears as though he was never referred to ICE following his previous arrests or convictions," Rusnok said via e-mail.

"After an ICE agent interviewed this alien, an ICE detainer was placed on him," Rusnok said.

Generally, a detainer, or hold, is put on an arrestee if he or she is determined to be eligible for deportation, Rusnok said.
http://www.denverpost.com/ci_10034690