A Guatemalan man was arrested Thursday after a diaper-clad child who had been so badly raped that she will need multiple reconstructive surgeries was brought to a clinic.
The 23-year-old has been charged with child neglect for failing to protect the girl, who had been under his care.
Hector Gabriel-Jimenez told deputies he brought the child to the U.S. from Guatemala —where her mother and family live — so "he would be allowed to stay in the U.S.A. and not have any problems with immigration for entering the U.S.A. illegally," the arrest report states.
The girl, who as of Nov. 7 was still hospitalized a month after the Oct. 5 incident, was sexually battered by Gabriel-Jimenez's acquaintance who has not yet been identified, according to the arrest report from the Collier County Sheriff's Office.
Gabriel-Jimenez faces one charge of child neglect causing great bodily harm. The unnamed acquaintance was visiting the house where Gabriel-Jimenez and the girl were living.
Witnesses and the possible suspect were first interviewed in Spanish but had to be re-interviewed after investigators realized all parties were from Colotenango, Huehuetenango, Guatemala, a rural region in Guatemala where the native language is one of the 15 or more distinctly different sub-dialect of the ancient Mayan language, Mam, according to the arrest report.
On Oct. 7, CCSO Gabriel-Jimenez and another adult male who provided fraudulent information brought a young girl to the Community Medical Center in Immokalee. The unidentified man told doctors that the girl had sustained an injury to her genitals after a fall, according to the arrest report.
Doctors at the medical center found signs of sexual abuse when they took off her diaper, according to the arrest report.
She was transported to a pediatric emergency room at Naples Community Hospital - North Collier campus. Emergency staff found the injuries to her vaginal area were so severe that it was beyond their capabilities and she was taken to Golisano Children's Hospital in Lee County. She received emergency surgical intervention to repair damage to her vaginal and rectal area and will need additional surgeries, according to the arrest report.
One witness told detectives that on Oct. 7, Gabriel-Jimenez and the unidentified man dropped off the girl for her to babysit. Around 7:30 a.m., the unidentified man came back to the home and told the witness he did not find work that day. He took the girl to the bathroom to bathe her and the witness heard the girl cry in pain, according to the arrest report.
Another witness who was sleeping in the same trailer-home told detectives she was in her room and got up to go to the bathroom around 5:30 a.m. She told deputies she saw the girl in the bathroom with the man. She said she tried to wake Gabriel-Jimenez to attend to the girl but he was intoxicated, according to the arrest report.
The witness was unable to identify the man in the bathroom with the girl because she had never seen him before but said he arrived the night before with Gabriel-Jimenez to drink, according to the arrest report.
Gabriel-Jimenez was interviewed on Oct. 25 in Mam and told detectives that on Oct. 5 he spent the night with a person whose name was redacted from the arrest report and the child. He said there were two other men in the bedroom, according to the arrest report.
The next day, Gabriel-Jimenez' cousin woke him up to check on the child and to clean blood in the bathroom. He did not seek immediate medical attention for the girl after seeing her injuries because he did not think it was an emergency, according to the arrest report
On Oct. 7 Gabriel-Jimenez took the child to the clinic for medical attention after being pushed by one of the witnesses, according to the arrest report.
The relationship between the child, witness and Gabriel-Jimenez is redacted from the arrest report.
Gabriel-Jimenez and the child were taken into custody by Customs and Border Protection in Arizona in February and were released. They were instructed to appear in court regarding their immigration status, according to the arrest report.
Deputies arrested Gabriel-Jimenez in Immokalee on Thursday on charges of aggravated neglect of a child causing great bodily harm, according to the arrest report.
The arrest report states Gabriel-Jimenez failed to provide the child with care and supervision necessary to maintain the child's physical and mental health. He failed to make a reasonable effort to protect the child from abuse, neglect or exploitation by another person, according to the arrest report.
Gabriel-Jimenez was taken and booked through the Immokalee Jail Center.
No suspect has been identified or charged with sexual abuse.
You must be logged in to see or use the Shoutbox. Besides, if you haven't registered, you really should. It's quick and it will make your life a little better. Trust me. So just register and make yourself at home with like-minded individuals who share either your morbid curiousity or sense of gallows humor.
www.illegalaliencrimereport.com
