An immigrant charged with raping an 11-year-old girl in Maryland was living in the United States illegally, Immigration and Customs Enforcement has confirmed.
“Jonathan Coreas-Salamanca, 20, was arrested along with Ivan Reyes Lopez, 19, earlier this month at the high schools they attended in Montgomery County, Maryland, WJLA-TV reported. Both men are charged with second-degree rape,” Fox News reports.
Coreas-Salamanca, a citizen of El Salvador living in the U.S. illegally, received additional charges of sexual abuse of a minor and a third-degree sexual offense.
“U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) lodged a detainer for Jonathan Coreas-Salamanca, an unlawfully present Salvadoran national, with Montgomery County Detention Center on Feb. 14, following his arrest by Montgomery County Police for sex abuse of a minor and second-degree rape,” ICE spokeswoman Kaitlyn Pote said in a statement to the Daily Caller on Tuesday.
NEW: Two Montgomery County Public School students, ages 20 and 19, were recently arrested at their respective high schools, on allegations they raped different 11yo girls at apartments located off-campus.
Jonathan Coreas-Salamanca and Ivan Reyes Lopez are being held w/o bond. pic.twitter.com/t5EYpo1MBG
— Kevin Across America (@KevinLewisNomad) February 25, 2020
Coreas-Salamanca and Lopez were arrested Feb. 13 on allegations they raped different 11 year-old girls at apartments located off-campus.
Coreas-Salamanca is accused of exchanging explicit text messages and photographs with the 11-year-old girl, in addition to arranging meetups for sexual encounters. Her father found the phone on Christmas Eve last year and called the police, WJLA-TV reported.
“[The victim’s father] described a text message where Suspect Coreas-Salamanca advised Victim A that she bit his penis the last time she performed fellatio,” court documents state. “Suspect Coreas-Salamanca’s purpose in sending the text message was to teach Victim A how to better perform fellatio.”
Montgomery County, Maryland, has seen a spike in crimes committed by illegal immigrants in recent years. Montgomery County Executive Marc Elrich rolled back the county’s sanctuary city policy in November 2019 after at least nine illegal immigrants were charged with sex crimes, many against children, in the span of two months.