Jose Valerio-Rodriguez, a 70-year-old homeless man who lived in a tent in the woods behind the Circle K on Palm Coast Parkway near Frontier Drive, faces a life felony for human trafficking and a second degree felony on allegations of unlawful sexual activity with a minor, or statutory rape.
Flagler County Sheriff’s deputies arrested Valerio-Rodriguez on Monday. The girl and alleged victim had run away and met wit Valerio-Rodriguez in his tent, where the incident occurred. A sheriff’s detective first spoke with the girl at AdventHealth Palm Coast. The girl underwent an examination by a sexual assault nurse examiner, or SANE, and was interviewed in Daytona Beach by a child protection team examiner.
The girl told the examiner that she had met Valerio-Rodriguez late last year at Circle K, where she asked him to buy her a vape, which he did. She then visited him several times a week to smoke, drink alcohol and smoke pot. He would refer to her as his friend, then started referring to her as his girlfriend, and the two would kiss. The girl said she would allow him to do so to obtain drugs. He became increasingly “touchy,” as she described it.
On Feb. 17, the girl ran away from her mother between 8:30 and 9 and went to Valerio-Rodriguez’s tent, where the two started to talk and drink. The girl drank so much that she threw up. She was impaired. According to her account, Valerio-Rodriguez began to grope her, then became more aggressive, to the point of undressing her and assaulting her sexually. He begged her to stay the night. She refused, coming up with several reasons why she had to leave (he had two guns in the tent). Valerio-Rodriguez gave her a ring and wrote his phone number on a piece of paper, told her he loved her and walked her to the front of the Circle K.
Flagler County Sheriff’s detective Katherine Gordon was assigned the case and set up a controlled call with Valerio-Rodriguez–a call where the girl was at one end, and Valerio-Rodriguez was at the other, unaware that law enforcement was listening in. The girl referred directly to the sexual act Valerio-Rodriguez performed to which he appeared to confirm: “I love it, I love it,” telling her she did very well before becoming explicit about her body, and that she was his only one.
When Gordon and Sgt. Frank Gamarra met with Valerio-Rodriguez at Circle K on March 3, he denied knowing the girl, conceding only that he’d given a ring to a girl. He would not answer further questions. The cops had a search warrant in hand both for Valerio-Rodriguez’s DNA and to search his tent. The search produced “multiple firearms,” the notebook from which he’d ripped the piece of paper to wrote his phone number on, a vape pen and other items. A pair of female underwear was located in his pocket.
He was placed under arrest and booked at the Flagler County jail. No bond has been set.
