30-year-old Santiago Iniguez from Tulare was arrested on Thursday for allegedly raping a 13-year-old girl, more than once.
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Officials say a teacher called the police in March of 2022 and encouraged the teen to share her story.
"I commend the young lady for telling her teacher what happened. It is not an easy thing to do and I commend the school for doing what they needed to do. The bravery it takes is something that most people do not have to face," said Ashley Ritchie with the Tulare County Sheriff's Office.
Deputies have been investigating the case for over a year.
On June 28th, officials say they identified Iniguez as the suspect and arrested him at a Tulare home.
"Deputies tracked down that home as a possible location for him, and when they went, they found him," Ritchie explained.
Nancy Zayas with the Tulare Youth Services Bureau says, unfortunately, abuse and rape cases are far more common than some people could imagine.
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" We get about 20 to 40 referrals per month and help about 200 sexual abuse treatment cases per year so we do see a lot of this intense work every day," Zayas said.
She encourages families to be alert and have conversations with their children about the difficult topic.
"The communication piece is what is most important and what I tell every single family, things that we did not use to talk about or were taught to discuss needs to be. Especially things like body parts, body safety, and boundaries," Zayas explained.
Through the investigation, detectives found information that makes them believe there are more victims.
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