4-Year Sentence Meted After Man’s Relationship With 13-Year-Old
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Michael Anderson-manderson@timesuniononline.com
A Goshen man will spend four years in prison after being found with a 13-year-old girl in a Wisconsin motel. Judge David Cates pronounced the sentence in Kosciusko?County?Superior Court I?Thursday. Cesar Bustamante, 23, of Goshen, pleaded guilty in July to a lesser degree of child molesting, a class D felony. According to court documents, Bustamante began the relationship with the girl when she was 12. The girl’s mother took out a restraining order against Bustamante. Bustamante continued to see the girl in violation of the order, court records indicate. On Sept. 22, 2014, the daughter left a note with her mother saying she was leaving town and headed to Mexico. An aunt of the girl obtained information that Bustamante and the girl were near Green Bay, Wis., court records state. Bustamante was found with the girl in a motel room in Wisconsin by the Outagamie County Sheriff’s Department. Bustamante served 135 days in Wisconsin for charges related to the incident. The girl told authorities she had engaged in sexual relations with Bustamante in Kosciusko County, court records state. As part of the plea agreement Bustamante pleaded to the lesser charge of fondling. During the sentencing hearing, Bustamante said through a translator that he didn’t realize the activity was illegal in the United States. He said he grew up in a culture where nothing was wrong with an older man dating a young girl. “All my family in Mexico married young,” he said. Felipe Merino, his attorney, argued the time served in Wisconsin was a wake-up call for him and Bustamante understands that what he did was unacceptable in America. Cates said deportation was possible due to the conviction. Merino said he believed his client was an undocumented immigrant. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials generally wait for a person to serve their time before beginning deportation proceedings. Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Katy Hampton argued Bustamante kept the relationship with the girl even though her parents had warned him to stay away. Hampton provided Cates with the incident report from the Outagamie Sheriff’s Department which she said contradicts what Bustamante told probation officers in the pre–sentence investigation. Cates said “There is information that doesn’t match, so I will just go with what you’ve admitted to and in the state of Indiana, there’s an advisory sentence for that.” Bustamante will receive credit for 26 days time served.
