Falsely Accused of Child sexual Abuse
It is illegal for anyone to file a
false report of child abuse, but unfortunately, it happens every day. Even
though 60% percent of reported abuse cases are false, this offense has the
highest conviction rate of all felony crimes. The law is written to protect the
children first, so even though you may be completely innocent, you could face
long, expensive legal battles or even worse, you may possibly lose your freedom
for ever.
On July 2, 2010, sheriff's officials received a report from a
woman claiming her 4-year-old daughter was the victim of a sexual abuse. This is when the nightmare began for Ruben
Rodriguez, he was called by the Ocala sheriff’s department asking him to go to
their office that they needed to discuss something with him, when he arrived at
the sheriff’s department not knowing what was going on he was confronted and interviewed
by an investigator, that’s when he was informed of the accusations that were
brought against him, by his ex-wife’s family member.
Due to his difficulty in speaking and comprehending English
an interpreter was provided by the sheriff’s department, all through the interrogation
he maintained his innocents but was later placed under arrest.
He told officials he walked into the living room and the girl jumped off the
couch and into his arms. He said he caught her by grabbing her private area. He
denied molesting the girl or exposing himself.
Rodriguez was arrested and taken to the Marion County Jail.
For the first time in his entire life he was incarcerated for an accusation
that later was proved to be false. After
two entire years of legal battles he was offered three year’s probation and to
be registered in the sex offender registry for life or he will be facing 25
years to life in jail, an offer he refused to accept.
The trial was set for February 22, 2012, during the trial the defending
attorney had the investigator’s interview examined by two bilingual interpreter,
during such examination it was discovered that the interpretation was incorrect,
that the interpreter used by the sheriff’s department was not a state certified
interpreter and that he translated many words incorrectly an error that could
had sent an innocent man to jail for life.
During the trial, the accuser was asked three times to identify the person
that had touched her, and she said that the person that touched her was not
present in the court room.
Thanks to the hard work and dedication of the defending attorney Wanda Chatman, of the Ocala public defenders office and a jury that took the time to
really look into all the facts, Ruben Rodriguez was ACQUITTED of all charges
brought against him.
VIEW COURT RECORDS BY CLICKING HERE
