A Mexican national was arrested after authorities say he sexually assaulted a 13-year-old child and was caught in the act by the victim’s mother at their apartment in Fox Lake.
The Fox Lake Police Department responded around 5:15 p.m. on May 13 to a report that a sexual assault had occurred in the 500 block of Lincoln Avenue in Fox Lake.
The complainant reported that her 13-year-old daughter had been sexually assaulted earlier that day, according to Fox Lake Police Department Sgt. Rick Howell.
Howell said officers determined during the investigation that the victim had been sexually assaulted by her mother’s boyfriend, identified as Ricardo Rocha-Castro, 34, of Fox Lake.
The juvenile victim was transported to the Lake County Children’s Advocacy Center.
She was evaluated by a Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner (SANE) and evidence was collected, Howell said.
A victim-sensitive forensic interview was also conducted by trained advocacy center personnel.
The child and her family were provided with social service resources through the Lake County Advocacy Center, DCFS and the Zacharius Center of Lake County.
Rocha-Castro fled the scene prior to officers’ arrival, Howell said.
The Palatine Police Department assisted in locating Rocha-Castro and he was taken into custody and transported to the Fox Lake Police Department.
The Lake County State’s Attorney’s Office reviewed the case and approved two counts of predatory criminal sexual assault of a child, one count of criminal sexual assault of a child family member and one count of aggravated criminal sexual abuse of a child family member.
Rocha-Castro was held at the Fox Lake Police Department and transported to First Appearance Court at the Lake County Courthouse in Waukegan last Friday.
The Lake County State’s Attorney’s Office filed a petition to detain Rocha-Castro pending trial and Rocha-Castro, who said in court he was a Mexican citizen, appeared for a detention hearing accompanied by a Spanish interpreter.
Prosecutors said Rocha-Castro, the mother and the daughter have lived in the Lincoln Avenue apartment together.
The mother was gone from the residence and returned around 4 p.m. on May 13 to find Rocha-Castro with his zipper down and the buckle undone, prosecutors said.
The child was hiding behind a door naked from the waist down with her underwear in her hand. Rocha-Castro fled and the child told her mother that Rocha-Castro had been touching her, prosecutors said.
During the victim-sensitive interview, the child told investigators that Rocha-Castro had been sexually assaulting her and did so just before her mother came home on May 13.
She also said Rocha-Castro previously had bribed the girl with money and then, when that would not work, he would physically force himself on her and use ruses in the process, prosecutors said.
Rocha-Castro made admissions to police that corroborated some of the victim’s statements, prosecutors said, adding that the victim’s mother “more or less” caught him in the act.
Lake County Judge Michael Nerheim granted the petition to detain following the hearing.
Rocha-Castro remains held in the Lake County Jail and is scheduled to appear in court again on June 9 for a preliminary hearing.