20-year-old man charged with raping autistic Cathedral City girl

INDIO, Calif. (KESQ) - An undocumented immigrant accused of sexually assaulting a 14-year-old autistic girl allegedly lured to his Cathedral City apartment on New Year's Eve was charged today with rape of a minor and other offenses.

Enrique Bautista Vasquez, 20, was arrested last week following an investigation by the Cathedral City Police Department that began at the start of the year.

Along with rape, Vasquez is charged with sentence-enhancing allegations of sexual assault of a person unable to consent and abuse of a victim deemed ``particularly vulnerable.''

The defendant is being held in lieu of $1 million bail at the Benoit Detention Center. He was slated to make his initial court appearance Wednesday afternoon at the Larson Justice Center in Indio, however, it was delayed to Thursday.

According to a bail-setting declaration authored by CCPD Detective Steven Armenta, the alleged assault occurred late on the night of Dec. 31, into the predawn hours of Jan. 1, in the apartment Vasquez shared with others, whose identities were not disclosed, on Victoria Drive.

Armenta said the victim, whose identity was not disclosed, has a habit of wandering out of her family's home without telling anyone and walking the streets -- behavior attributed to her autism.

On the rainy night in question, she walked to Mayfield College on Date Palm Drive for unknown reasons and encountered Vasquez near the campus, according to the police affidavit. The defendant persuaded her to walk with him around a business center for an unspecified period before coaxing her into returning with him to his residence, Armenta alleged.   

"Once the two arrived at his apartment, they engaged in vaginal intercourse,'' the detective said, adding that during the alleged assault Vasquez also sodomized the girl.

Armenta said that after several hours at the location, the juvenile was allowed to leave and returned home. Her family contacted police the same day, prompting an immediate investigation.

A medical examination supported the allegation that the youth had been sexually assaulted, according to the declaration. Investigators ultimately procured a search warrant for the defendant's apartment and discovered "a pair of black women's boots in his closet, which were reported by the victim to have been left in the bedroom after their encounter, due to the fact that they were wet from the rain,'' Armenta wrote.   

He said there was also blood found on the bed sheets, substantiating that the alleged assault which the victim described had occurred.   

The detective said efforts to confirm Vasquez's identity turned up a Social Security card and federal Permanent Resident card in his wallet.   

"The documents in his possession were determined to be fraudulent,'' Armenta said, noting the Social Security card belonged to a Texas resident and had been issued years before the defendant's birth.

The Permanent Resident card was "fraudulently obtained for immigration purposes,'' according to the bail affidavit, establishing that the defendant is a "foreign national'' who entered the country illegally.  

Armenta said Vasquez should be considered "a flight risk who will undoubtedly evade future legal proceedings'' if given the opportunity to gain release from custody.  

The defendant has no documented prior felony convictions in California.