Winona Man Sentenced For Sexual Misconduct With A Minor
Posted
Amanda Bridgman-
A Winona Lake man was sentenced to three years in jail Monday for having sexual contact with a minor.
Rafael Meyo Rojas, 26, of 1202 Wooster Road, lot 52, Winona Lake, appeared Monday in front of Kosciusko Superior Court I Judge David Cates and was sentenced to three years in jail for a Level 5 felony conviction for sexual misconduct with a minor. Cates suspended one year of that to formal probation, required Rojas to register as a sex offender and said Rojas can serve his sentence through the Kosciusko County Community Corrections program if he qualifies.
According to court documents in the case, on Christmas Eve 2019, Rojas was at a family Christmas party when he entered into a bedroom where a minor girl and boy were sleeping and inappropriately touched the girl on the upper part of her body and attempted to take off her pants.
During court Monday, the victim testified that Rojas smelled like beer and she wanted to vomit when the incident was occurring.
“You are family, someone I was supposed to trust,” she said, saying he then violated her body. “I will always know the way I felt, and the relief when your wife walked in.”
The victim said she doesn’t know if she’s mad, sad or disappointed in Rojas, but said she hopes Rojas knows he is an embarrassment to their family and that he will get treated in jail like he treated her.
Kosciusko County Chief Prosecuting Attorney Brad Voelz said the fact that Rojas was in a position of trust as a trusted family member at a family party and that the incident happened on Christmas Eve will forever scar the victim.
Rojas’ attorney, Jay Rigdon, said his client has zero criminal history and is precisely the type of individual for which the county’s community corrections program is designed for, asking Cates to sentence Rojas to direct placement there.
Rigdon further said that his client is willing to seek alcohol treatment through the Bowen Center on his own accord. Rigdon called the Christmas Eve incident an aberration.
“It’s something that happened once,” Rigdon said. “It isn’t going to happen again.”
Rojas told Cates that he is very sorry and has apologized for what he did.
“It was due to the amount of alcohol that I drank that night. I had never drank that amount before,” Rojas said. “Please give me a chance to work and support and be with my family. This is something very hard for me.”
“Your attorney’s right, you have no criminal history,” Cates said. “But you have encountered someone who is actually a strong person. It takes guts to get up on that stand, and she did. Don’t tell me you always respected her. It wasn’t alcohol. It was you.”
