- April 25, 2024
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Flagler County Sheriff’s Office detectives arrested 30-year-old Esteban Alejandro Rodriguez after an investigation revealed that he’d sexually battered a 15-year-old girl in his care over the course of several years, according to a Sheriff’s Office news release.
Rodriguez is the husband of the girl’s legal guardian, and lived with the victim as well as two other girls, ages 3 and 5. The abuse began when the girl was 12 and in sixth grade, according to a charging affidavit.
Rodriguez forced the girl to commit sexual acts with him — including ones considered rape under Florida law — and photographed her naked, according to a charging affidavit. At one point, he attacked her, shoved her against a headboard, pressed himself against her in a lewd manner and “whispered in her ear ‘maybe one day’ he would rape her,” according to the affidavit.
He forced her to watch pornography on his phone, “forcibly grabbing her by the back of the neck when she tried to look away,” according to the affidavit.
The girl disclosed the abuse to a teacher Feb. 10, and the teacher notified the Department of Children and Families, prompting the investigation.
Deputies charged Rodriguez with two counts of sexual battery upon a child by a person in familial or custodial authority, lewd and lascivious battery on a victim 12-18, and showing obscene material to a minor.
Bond was set at $260,000.
