Trial begins for man, 60, accused of raping 12-year-old girl

[left-of-center2012]

A jury trial began Monday for
Robert Serrano, 60, accused of posing as a 17-year-old boy during online discussions with a 12-year-old Santa Fe girl and then raping her at least twice a few months later.

The two began flirting online and became “online boyfriend and girlfriend,” exchanging sexual messages, Deputy District Attorney Haley Murphy said. Serrano became jealous and controlling of the girl’s online activity and started communicating with her mother using the name “Pastor Marco.” By September of that year, Murphy said, Serrano had “inserted himself into her life in real time” and “appeared at her house and began staying there.”

Police and agents from the New Mexico Children, Youth and Families Department visited the child’s home the morning of Oct. 5, 2017, the report said; the girl answered the door scantily clad and Serrano was sleeping on the floor. The child told investigators she’d been “dating” Serrano and had sexual intercourse with him at a park the month before and in his vehicle the night before.

The girl’s mother told police Serrano was there to “help her keep her 12-year-old daughter from running away from home,” according to the report.
Serrano is charged with two counts of criminal sexual penetration of a child under 13, which each carries a maximum penalty of 18 years in prison.

https://www.santafenewmexican.com/news/local_news/trial-begins-for-los-lunas-man-accused-of-catfishing-raping-12-year-old-girl/article_d3dd4846-1fa8-11ec-97e0-633c5889d762.html

[Demovictory9]

1. ugh. put him away and her mother too

[niyad]

2. That f'n predator and the girl's mother belong in prison. The child belongs in therapy

and a safe environment.

[qazplm135]

3. Those two

Just took a human life and ran that life through a blender.

I hope they don't ever get that chance again via life in prison.

[XanaDUer2]

4. Wtf mom? Nt

[Ponietz]

5. Found guilty 10/1

https://www.santafenewmexican.com/news/local_news/santa-fe-jury-returns-guilty-verdict-in-catfish-rape-case/article_74f0e49c-224a-11ec-b30c-cb7b46826cf9.html|

[JudyM]

6. Wait, what? The guy reported her abuse himself, under an assumed name.

From the follow-up article above:

Serrano also posed as someone named “Pastor Marco,” according to testimony presented during the trial, and connected himself to the case by calling the child’s school from his own phone number to report that she was being exploited online.

When police and authorities from the state Children, Youth and Families Department went the girl’s home to follow up on the call, they found Serrano at the child’s home and arrested him on the spot after learning that he had raped the girl in his car the previous night after taking her and her younger sister to see the movie My Little Pony.

So if he hadn’t reported her exploitation …