Prosecutors: Molested girl hidden to avoid court Mother faces contempt charge for sending her daughter out of country after identifying abuser

The mother of a girl who claimed she was molested sent the child out of the country to avoid appearing in court, prosecutors say.

Now the mom is facing a contempt charge, her boyfriend is facing life in prison on multiple counts of child molestation, and the child is in the custody of the government of El Salvador waiting to be returned to South Florida.

The South Florida saga began last August, when the 11-year-old girl told school officials and police that she was being molested and had been since she was 5. She identified Jose Rutilio Urquilla, 38, as the molester.

But later, the girl’s mother sent her to live with relatives in El Salvador. Broward Circuit Judge Michael Lynch found the Fort Lauderdale woman in contempt of court, for which she now faces prosecution. The South Florida Sun Sentinel is not identifying the mother in order to protect the child’s identity.

According to Yehuda Bruck, the woman’s attorney, the child has recanted the claim and no longer has anything to contribute to the criminal case. “This was a family decision,” Bruck said. “Her mother doesn’t think this molestation happened, and the family does not trust the system.”

Prosecutors don’t see it that way. In a motion Jan. 26, Assistant State Attorney Taylor Hoffman said Urquilla filed a demand for a speedy trial once he knew the girl was out of the country. Broward Circuit Judge Michael Lynch, who’s overseeing the molestation case, barred prosecutors from using “hearsay” testimony. Getting the girl on the stand is now the