A 25-year-old San Antonio man was accused of lying about his age and sexually assaulting a teenager, according to Kens5 News Radio. According to the report, in mid-September, “the pair allegedly met at a local department store. At the time, the suspect claimed he was in high school.” The man, Rafael Vera, then allegedly enticed the 14-year-old “into meeting him at a local park area near Texas Military Institute” where the girl attended class. It was there that he assaulted her and “when she went back and made the outcry to the school news,” San Antonio Officer Matt Porter told Kens5. Vera was arrested the following week.
According to the Texas Department of State Health Services, “sexual assault is the most common serious harms that a child can experience,” and 250,000 children are sexually assaulted every year in Texas. According to DSHS, only 45,000 sex offenders were listed on the Texas Department of Public Safety’s Database in 2003. According to information from the Wisconsin state government, few sex offenders lie about their age, and most predators are honest about their sexual intentions, meaning that the Vera case is out of the norm.
There’s no shortage of cases of sexual offenders in Texas or the San Antonio area, however. The Texas state government actually releases a list of the ten most wanted sex offenders, in addition to the list put out by most states of the area’s “most wanted” criminals. A couple of sensational cases this year and last in Texas made national headlines, involving sex trafficking of young women and gang rape.
The Vera case is unlike most other sexual offense cases in that it is much more black and white. Young women often lie about their ages, and sometimes men are wrongly accused. If you or someone you know is facing a sexual offense charge, don’t go through it alone. Contact a dedicated San Antonio criminal defense attorney today.