A female counsellor who ‘had sex with an 11-year-old girl under her care’ in the United States of America (USA) has finally been arrested in Mexico after nearly a decade on the run.
Authorities disclosed that Iris Iliana Rodriguez, 34, was arrested on December 11 in Jalisco, Mexico by members of the International Criminal Police Organization after she was tipped off to Crime Stoppers.
Rodriguez had been on the run since January 2015 after it was discovered that she had an inappropriate relationship with a female minor in Laredo, Texas.
At the time, Webb County issued warrants for her arrest, including three counts of indecency with a child and three counts of unlawful restraint and harassment. She has since been hit with two additional charges for indecency with a child by sexual contact and flight to avoid prosecution.
Before she could be arrested nearly 10 years ago, she fled to Mexico and was placed on Texas’ Top 10 Most Wanted list.
According to authorities, the tipster has been rewarded $5,000 for informing them of Rodriguez’s whereabouts.
‘The U.S. Marshals Service (USMS), along with DPS Criminal Investigations Special Agents from Laredo, coordinated efforts with the USMS Country Attaché in Mexico to develop a plan with the assistance of INTERPOL Mexico to make the arrest,’ Texas Department of Public Safety said in a Facebook post on Friday.
Rodriquez’s inappropriate engagement with the 11-year-old girl reportedly occurred while she was working as a counselor for the Child, Adolescent and Parent Services program in Laredo.
The program is designed to ‘provide comprehensive services and adolescents ages 3 through 17 with a diagnosis of mental illness, who may exhibit an emotional, behavioural or mental disorder with a serious functional impairment,’ according to the program’s website.
She then moved on to a new job at the Border Region Behavioral Health Center which is also located in Laredo.
Her new job ‘allowed her to visit the little girl at school under the guise of offering guidance and counselling,’ according to WOAI-TV.
