A man has been arrested on charges that he met a 12-year-old girl on the Internet, started up a relationship with her and then sexually assaulted her.
Maximino Sanchez-Castro, 20, of Denver was arrested last week, the Jefferson County district attorney’s office said today.
Jeffco officials said Sanchez-Castro met the girl this month on the social-networking website .
Mocospace is a chat room that is more widely used by teens text-messaging on their cellphones than traditional chat rooms, officials said in a news release.
“We have to remain diligent in trying to keep up with what kids are doing on the Internet, as well as with trends online,” District Attorney Scott Storey said in the statement. “We are seeing more and more kids sending text messages with their cellphones through these social-networking sites, and they have their cellphones with them all the time.”
The girl lives in Golden.
Sanchez-Castro was employed by B-G Maintenance and worked through company as a janitor at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science.
The museum issued a statement Monday saying that the maintenance crew works after the museum is closed, from 5 p.m. to 1 a.m., Monday through Friday.
“The museum is evaluating its continued association with B-G Maintenance Management of Colorado as a result of this incident,” the statement said.
Jeffco officials said he exchanged text messages with the girl, then they spoke on the phone.
Ultimately, officials said, Sanchez-Castro picked the girl up at her home and sexually assaulted her in his car on two occasions.
Sanchez-Castro is being held at the Jefferson County jail in lieu of $100,000 bail. Officials believe he is in the country illegally, so Immigration and Customs Enforcement has a hold on him.
