Man facing charges he molested girls let out
Taos judge allows release to relative’s home where 10 children will be present
TAOS — A state District Court judge ruled this week that Raymond Hernandez, accused last month in three child molestation cases, can be released from jail on house arrest at his sister’s home in Questa, where 10 children live.
Judge Jeff McElroy imposed a $10,000 unsecured appearance bond in the case and said 29-year-old Hernandez must be supervised by another adult when children are present in the home.
“I am concerned that there are children in the home,” McElroy said. “But these are children that he has had contact with his entire life, and there are no allegations of any misconduct.”
Hernandez’s sister testified at his detention hearing Tuesday, saying, “He helped me raise my kids. He’s helped me with them since they were babies.”
Hernandez was indicted late last month on charges of molesting one 13-year-old girl at a home in Peñasco and battering another Jan. 11.
He was charged with one count of criminal sexual contact of a minor, one count of battery and two counts of contributing to the delinquency of a minor, after allegations that he gave the girls alcohol.
The Taos County Sheriff ’s Office initially accused Hernandez in two child rape cases in January, involving a 19-month-old girl and a 5-year-old girl, but both cases have been dismissed by state prosecutors.
Tim Hasson, an attorney with the 8th Judicial District Attorney’s Office, argued there was sufficient evidence to show Hernandez poses a danger to the community and should remain in jail until trial.
Statements of probable cause in the case involving the 13-year-olds say both girls told authorities that Hernandez had reclined at the end of the bed where they were sleeping. One of the girls awoke to find herself partly undressed
and Hernandez on top of her, a court document says. The other girl said she got up and left the room when Hernandez started rubbing her leg, according to a statement.
But Hernandez’s private defense attorney, Alan Maestas, said there were several discrepancies and inconsistencies in the girls’ accounts of the incident.
McElroy rejected an alternative plan to have Hernandez live with his mother at her home in San Luis, Colo., just across the state line. While there are no children in his mother’s home, the judge said, housing Hernandez out of state might cause complications as the case proceeds.
Hernandez’s sister said she had put up her family’s 10-acre property in Questa as collateral to cover the cost of hiring a private attorney.
Hernandez is scheduled to appear in court again March 11.
This story first appeared in The Taos News, a sister publication of the Santa Fe New Mexican.