SALT LAKE CITY (ABC4) — A Heber City man was arrested over the weekend after he allegedly raped an 11-year-old girl.
Miguel Chavelas-Astudillo, 30, was charged with one count of first-degree rape of a child, according to court documents filed in Wasatch County.
Heber City police arrested Chavelas-Astudillo after finding him late Saturday night in a vehicle with the victim. The girl was hiding under a blanket, and there was a used condom in the back seat.
Chavelas-Astudillo told officers that the girl claimed to be 18, the court documents state. While he initially said they were only eating in the car, he later admitted to having sex with the girl.
Police began looking for the child Saturday night after her parents reported she ran away. Her parents thought she was with Chavelas-Astudillo, as they had been communicating.
When officers looked at the messages between the 30-year-old and the girl, they were clearly “intimate in nature,” the court documents state. They also contained a photo of Chavelas-Astudillo, which he sent to the girl.
Police booked Chavelas-Astudillo into the Wasatch County Jail early Sunday morning.
According to the documents, officers requested that he not be given the chance to post bail, as the victim’s parents were worried Chavelas-Astudillo would flee with their daughter to Mexico.
“I believe that releasing this individual would constitute a substantial danger to the victim,” the arresting officer wrote in court documents.
