By Andy Sevilla
A San Marcos woman was indicted on three counts of child trafficking after authorities say she prostituted a child; meanwhile a man accused of paying for the victim to engage in sexual conduct was also indicted for child trafficking.
Julia Salazar, 46, was arrested on the three counts of child trafficking on Aug. 19. Roman Luis Niles, Jr., 30, has been in Hays County custody since April 24 on felony child trafficking charges and on a Dickson County, Tennessee, warrant for possession of a controlled substance.
At about 11 p.m. Nov. 4, 2012, San Marcos police were dispatched to Cuauhtémoc Hall, a nonprofit dance hall in San Marcos, for a reported sexual assault of a child under the age of 15.
The victim told police she had been walking in the area of the 500 block of Patton Street at the railroad tracks when a black male driving a small body pickup truck, a short time earlier, approached her, according to Niles’ probable cause affidavit.
The victim said the suspect drove up alongside her and offered her a ride, but the victim refused and the driver leaned across and opened the passenger side door, according to the affidavit. The driver then reached out and pulled the victim into the vehicle by the arm, the document said.
The offender then drove the victim to an area just off the 1000 block of Clovis Barker Road, off the roadway and onto a rough path, which vehicles sometimes use to access the back of several businesses which are located along the IH-35 east access road, the affidavit said. Then, the victim told police, the offender sexually assaulted the victim, according to the affidavit.
The offender apologized repeatedly and drove the victim to Cuauhtémoc Hall at the victim’s request. Workers from the hall called police once the suspect was gone, the affidavit said.
Additional officers who arrived on scene, with the help of the victim, were able to locate the crime scene, photograph it and recover the victim’s shoes and cell phone.
The victim underwent a SANE (Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner) examination at the Guadalupe Regional Medical Center in Seguin, where a vaginal swab was conducted that ultimately led authorities to a DNA match to Niles, through the Federal Bureau of Investigation Federal Convicted Offender (DNA) database, according to the affidavit.
Niles was indicted July 1 on four counts of child trafficking. His indictment accuses him of engaging in or causing the child to become a victim of compelling prostitution, sexual assault, indecency with a child and sexual performance by a child.
Salazar’s July indictment accuses her of engaging in or causing the child to become a victim of compelling prostitution, sexual performance by a child and of sexual assault.
Indictment by a grand jury means there is enough evidence to support the charge to warrant a trial, not that the defendants are guilty.
No probable cause affidavit or reports were available for Salazar. Hays County Assistant District Attorney Brian Erskine said his office presented the Grand Jury with Salazar’s case, resulting in her indictment.
Erskine would not comment further on Salazar, citing the ongoing criminal investigation. He did say Salazar prostituted the victim, and that Niles was her codefendant.
