A 25 year old man accused of having sex with a fifteen year old girl during an after hours “Read Night” program at Smithville Elementary School has been located after eluding Smithville Police for more than two months.
Smithville Police Chief Randy Caplinger and Detective Matt Holmes told WJLE Friday that Roel Selaya Sosa, aka Carlos Oliver Aldino, was arrested Wednesday, May 25 by authorities in New Wilmington, Pennsylvania where he was working on a ranch and using “Martinez” as his last name.
Chief Caplinger and Detective Holmes said that Sosa is facing a court hearing in Pennsylvania where he is charged with being a fugitive from justice and for using a fake identification. He is awaiting extradition back to Smithville to face a charge of statutory rape.
Sosa, who lived in Apartment-A at 615 South Mountain Street, was employed at Zelenka Nursery as a crew leader. Workers there told police one week after the offense on Monday, March 14th that Sosa had failed to show up for work and indicated that he might have gone to Mexico.
Detective Holmes, who investigated the case, said that on the night of the incident, March 7th, the fifteen year old girl was at the school to look after her younger brother who was participating in”Read Night”, a teacher supervised program where parents and students come to school after hours and read together. The mother of these two children had apparently dropped them off at the school and then returned later to pick them up.
After arriving at the school that night, the fifteen year old met up with Sosa and they separated themselves from others in the building. Police have declined to make public more details about the encounter between the two, fearing it might harm the prosecution of the case. According to Detective Holmes, a custodian later saw Sosa and the victim standing in the hallway and told them they were not supposed to be there.
The next day, Detective Holmes said the custodian informed Principal Dr. Bill Tanner of the incident and he contacted the victim’s mother. She then reported it to School Resource Officer Kenneth Whitehead, who contacted the Department of Children Services and Detective Holmes.
Although Sosa could not be located in the days following the incident, Smithville Police seized his green Chevy Tahoe. The vehicle was found parked at Sosa’s residence. Detective Holmes said police believe he drove it to the school to commit the act, which is use of a vehicle in the commission of a felony.
Police got a break in the case Wednesday after questioning an informant who was believed to have knowledge of Sosa’s whereabouts. The informant told police that Sosa was working at a ranch in New Wilmington, Pennsylvania. Authorities there were contacted and Sosa was arrested. Chief Caplinger and Detective Holmes said Sosa has been positively identified as the suspect in the case.
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