Man arrested for allegedly raping 12-year-old girl in West Valley City
SALT LAKE CITY (ABC4) — A West Valley City man was arrested this week after investigators say he raped a 12-year-old girl he followed into a backyard goat pen last summer.
Yeslin Almonacid Canchari, 30, was booked into Salt Lake County Jail on Tuesday on suspicion of rape of a child, a first-degree felony, sodomy of a child, and forcible sexual abuse, according to a probable cause affidavit filed in 3rd District Court.
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The sexual assault allegedly happened on June 18 after a 12-year-old girl reported she’d been raped in West Valley City, a community roughly 10 miles southwest of Salt Lake City.
The girl told investigators the perpetrator followed her to a home in the neighborhood where she’d often go to play with the goats and horses. She had often seen him sitting in a broken-down truck “that never moved” near 4046 South and 3200 West. She saw him again that day.
The man yelled at the girl in Spanish as she walked by, the 12-year-old told investigators, noting that she ignored him and continued on her way to play with the animals. But the man followed her to the pen, even when she told him to leave her alone.
After the girl went into the goat pen, the man latched the door shut behind them and raped the child, the affidavit said. The girl escaped after kicking the man in the leg and running toward the street to the nearest gas station.
After a sexual assault examination, authorities got a sample of the perpetrator’s DNA. Roughly a month later, police went to the home with the broken-down truck outside and got mouth swabs from six men inside. One of those men was Canchari, the affidavit states. His DNA was a match for the perpetrator, and authorities got the results last month.
Canchari is being held in jail without bail. According to the affidavit, Canchari is a citizen of Peru, and there is a “high likelihood” he would flee if released on bail.
If you or someone you know needs help, call the toll-free Statewide 24-hour Sexual Violence Crisis and Information Hotline at 1-888-421-1100. Click here for a list of Rape Crisis Resources in Utah.
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