Man charged with child sexual assault to stand trial in Abilene
Editor's note: This story contains information about the alleged sexual abuse of a child. If you know or suspect that anyone under 18 is being sexually or physically abused, call the Texas child abuse hotline at 1-800-252-5400.
Two men have been charged with aggravated sexual assault of a child under 14 stemming from an incident involving a missing girly in early 2023 in north Abilene, according to court records. One of the men has pleaded guilty, and one will stand trial starting next week.
Fernando Martinez-Rivera has a trial date set for April 15 on a charge of aggravated sexual assault.
Martinez-Rivera is being held in Taylor County Jail on a $75,000 bond, according to online jail records.
He and co-defendant Roberto Acosta-Lemuz, both from Honduras, have immigration holds from the U.S. Border Patrol, according to jail records.
Martinez-Rivera will plead not guilty, according to his defense attorney David M. Stiller.
Acosta-Lemuz has already pleaded guilty to the offense, court records show.
Aggravated sexual assault of a child under 14 is punishable by five to 99 years or life in prison.
Missing child
According to allegations in court records, Abilene police responded to a report of a missing child Jan. 9, 2023. The mother of a 12-year-old girl woke up to find her daughter missing from home and reported it to the police.
The police tracked the girl's phone to a known location in the 1400 block of Anson Avenue in north Abilene, according to the records. When officers arrived at the location, Martinez-Rivera, Acosta-Lemuz, another man and a male minor were all at the residence.
Officers showed Acosta-Lemuz a picture of the missing girl, and he initially told officers that "he did not know the girl." When officers told him that "a phone ping from the girl's phone pointed to that house," Acosta-Lemuz then told the officers the girl was there.
Abilene police officers said they found the girl in a closet in the home. The girl alleged she was sexually assaulted. In a follow-up forensic interview at the Abilene-Taylor County Child Advocacy Center, the girl told an interviewer that Acosta-Lemuz raped her.
The girl subsequently said that the night before police arrived, Martinez-Rivera sexually assaulted her, as well. During interviews with police, both Martinez-Rivera and Acosta-Lemuz admitted to having sex with the girl.
According to an Abilene police press release, Acosta-Lemuz, 18, and Fernando Rivera, 21, were both arrested Jan. 10, 2023. Both men were subsequently charged with first degree felony aggravated sexual assault of a child.
A guilty plea
Acosta-Lemuz pleaded guilty in an open plea Feb. 26 to his involvement in the sexual assault of the girl. He is expected to be sentenced at the Taylor County Courthouse later in April.
Assistant Criminal District Attorney Charles J. Breaux Jr. said he is unsure of Acosta-Lemuz's immigration status, but that the U.S. Border Patrol has an immigration hold on him.
In Breaux's experience, if a person convicted of a crime is not a U.S. citizen, that person will serve the sentence with a hold from immigration and could then be deported after completing the sentence.
At the time of publication, Fernando Martinez-Rivera sits in the Taylor County Jail on a $75,000 bond. He also has an immigration hold on him by the United States Border Patrol.
Breaux said Martinez-Rivera faces the same consequences as Acosta-Lemuz - 5-99 years or life in prison.
Martinez-Rivera will be in court starting April 15 for a jury trial in connection with the aggravated assault charge. It remains to be seen if he will plead guilty as Acosta-Lemuz did.
All suspects are presumed innocent unless proven guilty in a court of law.
This article originally appeared on Abilene Reporter-News: Man charged with child sexual assault to stand trial in Abilene
