Immigration Fail: 62-year-old man flees before warrant for molesting 8-year-old Weslaco girl

02.11.14

Disturbing details surface of forced sex games between a 62-year-old man and an 8-year-old girl whose room is still filled with Barbie dolls.

"He was showing her his private parts, and he wanted her to touch it," a Weslaco mother said.

Because Action 4 News does not identify alleged victims of sexual abuse, she's referred to only as "Jane."

She says the sex crimes against her daughter went on for at least a year.

Ricardo Martinez has been wanted by the Weslaco Police Department for indecency with a child for the past six months.

"Jane" turned to police on August 1st, 2013 to file the initial report.

She first suspected abuse after her mother's long-time boyfriend quickly covered himself in the vehicle with her daughter when she returned from paying a bill.

"He would tell her that she couldn't tell me or her grandma," she said.

"Jane's" fears became a reality with her daughter's outcry at a child advocacy center.

The first grader said Martinez sexually molested her, according to her mother.

"Jane" thought justice would be swift.

"I was wrong," she said." "They filed the warrant for his arrest like within a week but haven't done anything to get him."

The police chief in Weslaco will be the first person to say how predators who abuse children belong behind bars.

And that's where Chief Michael Kelley says Martinez belongs.

But he also adds how circumstances in a case can slow down the justice process.

He calls it "red tape."

"I understand that she's upset and I wouldn't blame her either but there are limitations to how far we can actually look for people sometimes," the chief explained to Action 4's Ryan Wolf.

His investigators have had trouble tracking the suspect down because he's fled the state.

Martinez is believed to be hiding out in Palmetto Florida, that's south of Tampa.

He was previously spotted in Georgia.

Chief Kelley says his department has been in touch with the local police department in Florida where Martinez could be hiding out.

He has also alerted the U.S. Marshal's Office.

"People have to understand the system is not always perfect," referring to the different jurisdictions now involved.

And while the police department hasn't given up in the search, "Jane" says life isn't the same.

"I cannot move on with my life like this."

Her entire family continues to live in fear.

Chief Kelley has entered the suspect's name into a national database.

If he gets stopped for any reason, Martinez would be held on the arrest warrant pending extradition.

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