INDIO, Calif. (KESQ) – An undocumented immigrant accused of sexually assaulting a 14-year-old autistic girl allegedly lured to his Cathedral City apartment on New Year’s Eve was charged today with rape of a minor and other offenses.
Enrique Bautista Vasquez, 20, was arrested last week following an investigation by the Cathedral City Police Department that began at the start of the year.
Along with rape, Vasquez is charged with sentence-enhancing allegations of sexual assault of a person unable to consent and abuse of a victim deemed “particularly vulnerable.”
The defendant is being held in lieu of $1 million bail at the Benoit Detention Center. He was slated to make his initial court appearance Wednesday afternoon at the Larson Justice Center in Indio, however, it was delayed to Thursday.
According to a bail-setting declaration authored by CCPD Detective Steven Armenta, the alleged assault occurred late on the night of Dec. 31, into the predawn hours of Jan. 1, in the apartment Vasquez shared with others, whose identities were not disclosed, on Victoria Drive.