The Valencia County Sheriff’s Department is asking the public’s assistance in helping locate a man who was indicted in late June on numerous counts of criminal sexual penetration, criminal sexual contact and kidnapping.

Ismael Rodriguez, 32, of Los Lunas, was indicted by a Valencia County grand jury on June 26 on 14 counts of criminal sexual penetration of a minor, 14 counts of criminal sexual contact of a minor and 14 counts of kidnapping. The charges against Rodriguez came after a 13-year-old girl talked to officers.

Valencia County Sheriff’s Detective Clyde Joseph said Rodriguez is also wanted on a district court warrant and a magistrate bench warrant for failure to appear in court regarding these charges.

“We’ve been looking for him ever since I obtained a warrant for his arrest in May,” Joseph said. “It seems like when we get close to catching him, he conveniently disappears.”

Joseph said he first learned about the case when the victim came in to report it on May 12. The detective said the victim alleged that she had been sexually molested by a relative since she was 9 years old.

The victim told officers she had also been assaulted in another state. Officers said they cannot handle charges that occurred in another state.

According to the detective, the young girl first told a friend about what was going on. In turn, the friend told her mother, who alerted the victim’s mother about what she had heard.

Rodriguez is originally from the Dominican Republic and is described as five-feet-seven-inches tall, 140 pounds with a shaved head. He is also described as having a dark goatee, a faded green tattoo of a cross on his left hand and a scar on his inner right arm.

“We’re just hoping that, if anyone knows where Rodriguez is, they contact us and let us know,” Joseph said.

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Clara Garcia is the editor and publisher of the Valencia County News-Bulletin.
She is a native of the city of Belen, beginning her journalism career at the News-Bulletin in 1998 as the crime and courts reporter. During her time at the paper, Clara has won numerous awards for her writing, photography and typography and design both from the National Newspaper Association and the New Mexico Press Association.