Brownsville girl found reading to alleged rapist

BROWNSVILLE – A 10-year-old girl was found reading to an alleged rapist Tuesday morning, who police believe broke into her home and sexually assaulted her repeatedly.

Officers allege Rolando Saucedo, 23, gained entry into the girl’s home on Old Port Isabel Road by promising her a can of Irish Blend Monster energy drink.

Her 16-year-old brother and 28-year-old sister found him in their younger sister’s bed about 7 a.m. as they checked on her after their parents went to work. It is The Monitor’s police not to identify victims of alleged sexual attacks.

“He saw his sister reading to someone,” Brownsville police spokesman Sgt. Jimmy Manrrique said. “When he took a closer look, he saw Rolando hiding under the covers.”

Investigators took the victim to Valley Baptist Medical Center-Brownsville, where members of the Child Through Adult Abuse Response Team confirmed the girl had been repeatedly violated.

Saucedo was placed under arrest and charged with aggravated sexual assault of a child and burglary to commit sexual assault.

Saucedo allegedly befriended the girl about two months ago at Sunrise Mall and had been speaking to her via cell phone ever since, Manrrique said.

But this was not his first time to face similar charges. At the time of the alleged attack, Saucedo remained under indictment in an April 2005 case in which he reportedly sexually assaulted a 13-year-old Laguna Vista girl, said Chuck Mattingly, the chief first assistant in the Cameron County District Attorney’s Office.

Although he pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 10 years deferred adjudication, he fled to Arkansas in 2007, violating several of the terms of his supervised release.

The district attorney’s office asked a judge to sentence Saucedo to prison for his full 10-year term upon his return to the area in March.

“The district attorney’s office has done everything possible to have Saucedo sent to prison,” Mattingly said. “This is a terrible thing; that little girl will never be the same.”

During a court hearing Wednesday, Saucedo went before Municipal Judge Ben Neece, who set his bond at $500,000 per count for a total of $1,000,000. Saucedo was transported to the Carrizalez Rucker Detention Center later that afternoon.

“I’m sorry,” Saucedo said as he was being placed inside a police cruiser. “I’ve let everybody down. I’m sorry for the pain I’ve caused.”

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Ildefonso Ortiz is a reporter for the Brownsville Herald.