Man accused of sexually assaulting two 13-year-olds; police seek more victims
A 22-year-old man who was arrested earlier this month for allegedly sexually assaulting two 13-yearold girls may have assaulted additional victims, Coconut Creek Police said Wednesday.
Ternell Cartagena, of Deerfield Beach, was arrested on Feb. 9 and was held in the Paul Rein Detention Facility as of Wednesday. He faces two counts of sexual battery of a juvenile, two counts of lewd and lascivious behavior and online solicitation of a child, among others, in total between the two separate cases.
Coconut Creek Police learned of Cartagena’s alleged assaults earlier this month after the parent of a 13-year-old girl told officers that she found concerning text messages between her daughter and a friend on the girl’s cellphone, according to a probable cause affidavit.
Messages between the girls, both 13 years old, discussed the woman’s daughter sending sexually explicit material to minor and adult men, who would send her
$1 on ApplePay in exchange, the affidavit said. The girls were also discussing someone the parent did not know, who they referred to as “Nuk.”
“Nuk” would later be identified as Cartagena. Other messages between the girls showed that Cartagena had met with one of the girls to provide drugs and nicotine in exchange for sexual acts, according to the affidavit.
After the parent read her daughter’s messages, she contacted the other girl’s parents. The next day, that girl’s parents reported to police that their daughter had engaged in sexual acts three times in January with a person who the girl believed was 19, the affidavit said.
One of the girls told detectives she met “Nuk” through an ex-boyfriend who was 14. The boy met with the girl at the Promenade at Coconut Creek and two other men, including Cartagena, to arrange to buy the girl and her friend nicotine vapes, according to the affidavit.
Cartagena bought vapes for the minor girls and exchanged numbers. Text messages led to both of the girls meeting up with Cartagena, and he engaged in sexual acts with both girls in his car while parked at an apartment complex, the affidavit said.
One of the victims later told detectives that at first she did not remember if Cartagena knew how old they were, then said she remembered it came up in conversation that both were 13, the affidavit said. The girl said, “he was, like, getting scared” when they mentioned their ages.
One of the two victims met up with Cartagena multiple times afterward and engaged in sexual acts with her, according to the affidavit. In some text messages between them, Cartagena offered to give her nicotine and illegal drugs for free in exchange for her engaging in sexual acts with other unidentified men. The girl later told police those men were between 20 and 26 years old.
Police searched Cartagena’s car after identifying him and collected evidence, including long hair samples from his front and back seats and two handwritten letters from two possible victims that said they were in boarding school, according to the affidavit.
“Based on the evidence at this time, it appears he may have had contact with other juveniles before his arrest,” Coconut Creek Police said in a news release Wednesday.
Kristie Cohen, one of Cartagena’s defense attorneys representing him in both cases, said in an email Wednesday evening she has no comment other than “these are just allegations at this time and my client is innocent until proven guilty.”