Two illegal immigrants have been charged with second degree rape of the same 11-year-old girl in Maryland.
Montgomery County Police arrested Mauricio Barrera-Navidad, 29, of Damascus, Maryland, and Carlos Palacios-Amaya, 28, of Gaithersburg, Maryland, for allegedly raping the same under-aged girl on multiple occasions, WJLA reports.
The victim reported the instances of rape to a school social worker in July.
The victim was introduced to Palacios-Amaya in September 2018 through her older brother, according to WJLA. Palacios-Amaya then reportedly raped her several times over the following months, authorities say.
On one occasion, Palacios-Amaya used a cell phone to record sexual acts with the 11-year-old, according to court documents. Investigators reportedly found several images on Palacios-Amaya’s cell phone of himself and the victim.
The victim explained to the social worker that Palacios-Amaya would pressure her to stay home from school so he could spend the day with her alone while her parents were away at work.
The second alleged rapist, Barrera-Navidad, reportedly attended the victim’s older brother’s birthday party at a trailer park in Germantown, Maryland, in July 2018, where he allegedly raped the 11-year-old in a bedroom, WJLA reports.
Montgomery County District Court Judge Sherri Koch granted Barrera-Navidad, an El Salvadorian national, a $100,000 bond, though he remains incarcerated while awaiting trial. Palacios-Amaya, also an El Salvadorian national and charged with four rape counts, was denied bond by Montgomery County District Court Judge Eric Nee.
ICE has confirmed both suspects are present in the United States illegally. Palacios-Amaya had been previously deported in 2014 and reentered the U.S. at an unknown time, according to ICE.