A 20-year-old Guatemalan national living in West Palm Beach was arrested Saturday, Oct. 10, and charged with two counts of sexual battery on a person younger than 12 and one count of molestation of a child under 12. Bernabe Mateo Sebastian is being held in the Palm Beach County jail without bail, according to court documents.
According to a West Palm Beach Police Department report, the child’s mother told police on Oct. 9 that she had noticed the girl acting unusually. When she asked what was wrong, the girl said Mateo Sebastian had sexually abused her. The mother confronted him, and he reportedly confessed to having intercourse with the child but denied that any of it was forced.
Detectives said the girl told them the abuse happened on Oct. 7, the day she stayed home from school with Mateo Sebastian because she felt sick. She said he grabbed her in the kitchen and took her into his room. Police said Mateo Sebastian later confessed to detectives that he made sexual contact with the child.
A judge ordered Mateo Sebastian on Oct. 10 to have no contact with the victim or any witnesses. WPBF 25 News contacted the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office and the West Palm Beach Police Department on Oct. 13 to ask whether U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has placed a hold on him. Those agencies had not yet responded.
