A Warsaw man was arrested Saturday morning after allegedly molesting a child who was 5 years old at the time of the incident. Alejandro Santamaria, 23, of 902 Anchorage Road, 117, Warsaw, was booked in the Kosciusko County Jail on a preliminary charge of child molesting – Class B felony, and held on a $20,000 bond. According to an affadavit filed by the Kosciusko County Prosecutor’s Office, Child Protective Services received a report March 27 that a child, 11 years old at the time of the report, had been molested by a man later identified as Santamaria. A case worker spoke with the child April 18, and the child advised sometime during the summer of 2007, when she was 5 years old, she was at her Warsaw residence when Santamaria, locked her bedroom door and began licking her neck and touching her inappropriately. According to the report, he then forced her to perform oral sex on him. The child further advised her mother then knocked on the door and Santamaria would not answer it. After her mother knocked two more times, Santamaria dressed and answered the door. Her mother then took the girl into the bathroom to give her a shower where the child then told her mother what had happened. The girl’s father reportedly confronted Santamaria about molesting his daughter and Santamaria said the child had provoked him but that he would not do it again. Santamaria bonded out Saturday around 8 p.m., approximately 20 hours after his arrest. His initial hearing is scheduled for 8:30 a.m. Oct. 31. Indiana code states that reports of child molesting or sexual abuse must be filed before the victim reaches 31 years of age.
