A Lake Worth, Florida, man is being held in the Palm Beach County Jail without bail after he allegedly sexually assaulted a 6-year-old girl in the laundry room of an apartment complex.
While being questioned by Palm Beach County Sheriff's detectives, Andres Bartolome Juan admitting to assaulting the girl twice, but added that it was the girl's "fault this happened," according to an arrest report.
Juan, 23, is facing two counts of sexual assault by someone 18 years old or older against a victim 12 years old or younger.
The girl told detectives that she was riding her bicycle outside her apartment building on Jan. 31 when she ventured into the laundry room. Once inside, Juan allegedly grabbed her hard by both arms and shook her, the report said. Juan then allegedly assaulted the girl twice.
The assault was interrupted when the girl’s mother began calling out for her daughter after finding her bike unattended. The girl ran out the laundry room “with a panicked look on her face,” the report said. The girl’s mother went inside the laundry room and found Juan trying to exit through a back window. Juan’s belt was unbuckled, his pants open and his zipper down, the mother told detectives.
When the mother asked her daughter if she was inappropriately touched, the girl said yes but “was too scared to talk about the details.”
Because the man once lived in the apartment complex on the 200 block of South F Street, a neighbor was able to identify him to detectives. A resident in the apartment where Juan once lived told detectives that Juan came to him and said, “I touched the little girl.”
Juan was arrested by deputies Saturday at 2882 S. Ocean Blvd. in Lake Worth.
While a DNA swab sample was being obtained from Juan, he told a detective: “It’s (the girl’s) fault this happened.”
About the Author
