California Man Convicted Of Raping Teen Relative Under His Care

A California man has been convicted of raping a teenage relative who was placed under his care, according to Monterey County District Attorney.

The jury convicted Raul Arroyo, 64, on charges of raping the teen girl, whose identity has not been released, while she was unconscious and committing lewd acts with her when she was between the ages of 14 and 15, District Attorney said Tuesday in a news release.

The victim and her four siblings were removed from their parents' custody in 2014 after their father displayed physically and sexually abusive behavior toward the children. They were initially separated and placed in foster care. Eventually, they ended up staying with Arroyo, their biological relative.

Arroyo's behavior toward the victim changed in 2015. He began complimenting her looks and touched her in ways that made her uncomfortable. The man reportedly made several sexual advances to her and raped her in May 2016, reported KION News.

The victim told investigators that she was scared to report the abuse, fearing the negative experiences she had when they reported their father's abuse. She feared that she would be separated from her siblings again if she reported the incidents.

Despite her fears, however, she disclosed the abuse to a few of her friends at Soledad High School. On May 25, 2016, they encouraged her to report it to the NJROTC captain, who alerted the police on the same day.

The victim told investigators that she had not washed her blankets and bedsheet since the incident. California Department of Justice tested the bedsheet and found multiple stains containing Arroyo's DNA.

In a similar incident last month, a 42-year-old man was arrested in the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh for raping and killing his 5-year-old niece. The victim reportedly went missing while she was out to play with friends. When the girl failed to come home after several hours, her parents began searching for her. After learning that the girl was last seen near a relative's home in the area, they launched a search on the man's property and found the girl's body hidden in the fodder dump.