Alejandro Santamaria

Alejandro Santamaria, 23, of 902 Anchorage Rd. Lot 117, Warsaw, is facing a single felony charge of child molesting after he allegedly had inappropriate sexual relations with a 5-year-old relative in 2007.

Santamaria, who was arrested Monday, is accused of molesting the girl in the summer of 2007 in a Warsaw home. The investigation began when Debra Pennington of Child Protective Services interviewed the child, who is now 12, in April.

According to the probable cause affidavit released by the Kosciusko County Prosecutor’s Office, Santamaria was 17 when he took the girl into his bedroom and forced her to perform a sex act on him. The girl told the investigators her mother knocked on the door, but Santamaria had locked it and would not immediately answer. The girl’s mother said she remembered taking the girl to the bathroom for a shower and noticed the smell “like the genital area” on her daughter’s hands.

StaceyPageOnline.com pursued the reasons why the case is just now coming to light and learned that some confusion back in 2007 likely prevented the girl’s parents from reporting it.

According to Kosciusko County Sheriff’s Department Sgt. Chad Hill, the investigating officer learned that when the allegations first emerged in 2007, the parents kicked Santamaria out of their home. He moved to Pennsylvania. Someone else told the parents that because they did not report the allegations immediately, they would likely be charged criminally as well. It was not until recently when Santamaria returned to the area that the family of the girl further pursued the matter.

The probable cause affidavit notes the girl’s father confronted Santamaria in 2007 who told him the girl “provoked him” but that “he would not do it again.”

Santamaria is to appear in Superior Court I with Judge Duane Huffer at 8:30 a.m. Thursday, Oct. 31. He has been released from jail after posting a $20,000 surety bond.