Man convicted of sexually assaulting family member sentenced to 24 years

Justin Garcia, Las Cruces Sun-News
·2 min read

This article contains a discussion and description of sexual assault and sexual violence. If you or someone you know experienced sexual violence, you can call La Piñon's 24-Hour Crisis Hotline at 575-526-3437 or go to www.lapinon.org/contact

LAS CRUCES – A man convicted of sexually assaulting a family member was sentenced to 24 years in prison Tuesday.

Rafael Arias, 43, was convicted by a jury in November 2021 on two counts of criminal sexual penetration of a child and four counts of criminal sexual contact of a child. The jury also found Arias not guilty on two additional counts of criminal sexual penetration of a minor. Sunland Park police said in an affidavit that Arias raped and molested a family member between the ages of 6 and 9. Police said that Arias also abused another school-age family member before his arrest in 2019.

Several family members, including the alleged victims, were called to testify by prosecutors during the three-day trial.

Arias was indicted on four counts of criminal sexual penetration, two counts of criminal sexual contact, two counts of child abuse and two counts of incest. According to court documents, jurors did not consider the charges of child abuse and incest during the process.

“This was a difficult case, in the face of adversity, two motions for a new trial were issued in court today, including an issue brought up by our defense team that dealt with the mother of the child pressuring her to say she had lied,” 3rd Judicial District Deputy Attorney Heather Consentino Chavez said in a news release issued Tuesday, the day of the sentencing.

Ultimately, 3rd Judicial District Judge Douglas Driggers ruled that no new trial was necessary.

According to statistics collected by the U.S. Department of Justice, children experience sexual abuse at a much higher rate than adults. About 90% of children who experience sexual assault in the U.S. know their abuser, according to a study conducted at the University of New Hamshire's Crimes against Children Research Center.

No more than 8 percent of sexual assault claims are fabricated, according to research published in the Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry. According to the same research, most fabricated reports of sexual assaults are made by adults involved in custody disputes.

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Justin Garcia is a public safety reporter for the Las Cruces Sun-News. He can be reached at JEGarcia@lcsun-news.com.

This article originally appeared on Las Cruces Sun-News: Man convicted of sexually assaulting family member sentenced