Babysitter accused of raping child in St. George pleads not guilty

The 5th District Courthouse in St. George, Utah, Sept. 5, 2018 | Photo by Spencer Ricks, St. George News

ST. GEORGE — A man who allegedly raped a child several times while babysitting her pleaded not guilty Wednesday at the 5th District Courthouse in St. George.

A booking photo shows Jose Manrique Delacruz, 38, who is accused of raping and sexually abusing a child in St. George four years ago. He pleaded not guilty to his crimes at the 5th District Courthouse in St. George, Utah, Sept. 5, 2018 | Photo courtesy of Washington County Sheriff’s Office, St. George News

Jose Manrique Delacruz, 38, was arrested in May for sex offenses that allegedly happened four years ago. He faces several first-degree felony charges for rape of a child, object rape of a child, sodomy on a child and aggravated sex abuse of a child, as well as a misdemeanor for lewdness involving a child.

According to the probable cause statement filed in support of the arrest, Delacruz allegedly volunteered to watch the girl while her mother went to work. While he babysat the child, he allegedly groped and raped her. The girl, who was 9 at the time of Delacruz’s arrest, told police the alleged assaults happened eight times.

A week before the child disclosed the incident, police say she ran into Delacruz at a store.

“After that, the child was not happy; she was serious, quiet and depressed,” the arresting officer wrote in the probable cause statement, adding that the girl’s mother believed her daughter wanted to tell her something but would not say it.

The child eventually told her mother she had been raped. Police were contacted, and after a two-day investigation, Delacruz was arrested on May 24.

Because Delacruz was acting as the babysitter at the time, police enhanced his charges to first-degree felonies. He was booked into the Purgatory Correctional Facility, where he remains in custody.

Since being arrested, police also charged Delacruz with felony charges for identity fraud and forgery. Upon inspecting his social security number and permanent resident card, police discovered them to be associated with other actual people and not Delacruz. He also pleaded not guilty to his fraud and forgery charges Wednesday.

A jury trial for Delacruz was scheduled for November.

Persons arrested or charged are presumed innocent until found guilty in a court of law or as otherwise decided by a trier-of-fact.

Email: [email protected]

Twitter:  @STGnews | @SpencerRicks

Copyright St. George News, SaintGeorgeUtah.com LLC, 2018, all rights reserved.

 

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11 Comments

  • comments September 5, 2018 at 1:55 pm

    “A man who allegedly raped a child several times…”

    “Since being arrested, police also charged Delacruz with felony charges for identity fraud and forgery. Upon inspecting his social security number and permanent resident card, police discovered them to be associated with other actual people and not Delacruz.”

    We’ll, yeah, but “THEY DO THE JOBS AMERICANS WON’T DO”, so it’s all good, right? Now our prison system gets to house and feed another mexican national for 20+ years before he’s ready for deportation. Not a big deal, right?

    • redrock4 September 5, 2018 at 3:25 pm

      Not a Mexican related issue. It’s sexual abuse – focus on the victim, not your weird political agenda.

      • tazzman September 5, 2018 at 4:07 pm

        It’s not weird that a guy stole someones identity and used it to skate the system. If they had caught him earlier, this tragedy would have been prevented. It’s a very sane political agenda.

        • comments September 5, 2018 at 5:07 pm

          yup, and if he’d decided to flee across the border before being caught he could’ve just tossed away his phony documents and never been found. A lot of these lefties are in denial about how there poor little, innocent, dear, beloved illegal aliens can be some of the worst kiddie rapers in existence. After all, “THEY DO THE JOBS AMERICANS WON’T DO”, so they must all be wonderful honest folks, right?

      • comments September 5, 2018 at 4:10 pm

        Oh, wow. NOT A MEXICAN ISSUE. Bless your heart for pointing that out. I guess I should’ve just stuck to the usual retort of something like, “sick bastard! castrate him! kill him!”. Would that float your boat a little higher?

      • Steve September 5, 2018 at 4:41 pm

        Some people have a difficult time letting go of their bigotry.

        • Real Life September 5, 2018 at 5:45 pm

          Just being observant, does not make you a racist nor a “bigot”.

          • Striker4 September 5, 2018 at 11:17 pm

            He is a racist and a bigot

          • Redbud September 6, 2018 at 4:34 am

            We need to get the wall built, and spend no expense keeping illegals out of the country! You want to enter the country, you may do so, if you do it legally. That is the law, that’s how it always should be. Unfortunately we’ve had presidents, such as Obama, who let things slide while in office, and now we all must suffer as a result of his inaction.

  • comments September 5, 2018 at 6:43 pm

    In case any of you need a babysitter Jose is available 7 days a week. Very reasonable prices. The catch is that Jose only babysits little girls. Hurry! Give him a call before he’s fully booked.

    😉

  • Rob83 September 5, 2018 at 7:59 pm

    Disturbing indeed,illegals need to go and The Wall needs to be built ASAP already, what’s the hold up?

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