Undocumented immigrant charged with rape of 13-year-old girl in Palm Beach County park

(Pictured, Santo Omar Martinez-Varela, Image credit: Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office)

Just hours ago, Florida’s Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office reported that back on January 11, their detectives tracked down and arrested Santo Omar Martinez-Varela, a suspect wanted for the late night sexual assault of a young girl earlier this month. 

WPTV shared detectives as saying that the 13-year-old girl was sexually assaulted near Okeeheelee Park in Palm Beach County around 11 p.m. on January 2.  When law enforcement first began looking for their suspect, they described him as a Hispanic man between 30 and 40 years old who did not speak English; and they released a few grainy images of the suspect caught on surveillance camera (see below).

DNA technology was used to confirm Martinez-Varela as the man who committed the sexual assault, and that DNA evidence paved the way to a warrant for his arrest.   

The Sheriff’s Office went on to say that during their investigation into Martinez-Varela’s activities, they learned that he had crossed the border illegally from Honduras in 2023 and traveled to West Palm Beach without any contact with law enforcement. Martinez-Varela was booked into the Palm Beach County Jail on counts of sexual assault of a minor and false imprisonment, according to CBS News 12.

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(Source and all images: Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office)

Posted by Richard Webster, Ace News Today
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