Montgomery County, Maryland – In two different high schools within Montgomery County, two students, ages 20 and 19-years-old, were both arrested on separate charges related to raping an 11-year-old girl.
Of the two adult-aged high school students, ICE has confirmed that one of them is also an illegal alien.
The allegations against the suspects are disturbing, but parents and local are also concerned about how many adult students walk the halls alongside their minor children.
On February 13th, 20-year-old Jonathan Coreas-Salamanca was arrested under charges for repeatedly molesting an 11-year-old girl. If convicted, he could be looking at up to 55 years in prison for the alleged sexual assaults.
If the victim’s father hadn’t discovered an unknown cell phone (allegedly) provided by Coreas-Salamanca to his daughter, who knows how long the abuse would have continued.
MORE: Coreas-Salamanca is accused of providing his victim with a cell phone. He allegedly used it to exchange explicit texts and photos, plus arrange sexual meetups.
The 11yo victim's father later discovered texts describing "vaginal intercourse, fellatio, and cunnilingus." pic.twitter.com/kCcXn2vZTG
— Kevin Lewis (@ABC7Kevin) February 25, 2020
When the father found the cell phone, he discovered countless messages between the suspect and his daughter that described engaging in explicit sexual acts.
Court documents pertaining to Coreas-Salamanca’s case stated:
“[The victim’s father] described a text message where Suspect Coreas-Salamanca advised Victim A that she bit his penis the last time she performed fellatio. Suspect Coreas-Salamanca’s purpose in sending the text message was to teach Victim A how to better perform fellatio.”
While the 11-year-old victim isn’t a student at Montgomery Blair High School where the 20-year-old suspect is enrolled, this doesn’t change the fact that this alleged adult predator walked the halls alongside girls as young as 14-years-old.
A full-fledged adult enrolled as a student in high school raises serious concerns and questions.
Yet, according to ICE, Coreas-Salamanca shouldn’t even be in the country in the first place.
The agency stated that Coreas-Salamanca is a Salvadoran national illegally present, and they’ve already filed an immigration detainer with the Montgomery County Department of Correction and Rehabilitation. As of now, the suspect is being held without bond.
Then just six days later, it was almost an identical case regarding a 19-year-old suspect who is a student enrolled at Bethesda-Chevy Chase High School. Ivan Reyes Lopez was arrested on February 19th, for allegedly raping an 11-year-old girl.
Lopez had apparently lured the victim from a park located near the Rollingwood Apartments in Silver Spring over to his apartment building.
The victim told police that Lopez had instructed her to sit on the bed while he turned on the TV. From there, according to the victim, Lopez had raped her.
During an interview with police while using a Spanish translator, Lopez had explained to investigators that he led the victim by hand to his bedroom and engaged in “consensual vaginal intercourse”.
If convicted, Lopez could face 20 year in prison. He too was denied bond during a bail hearing.
While there’s no indication that Lopez is in the country illegally, it’s worth noting that he emigrated from Honduras just three years ago. The reason why that is of interest is that El Salvador and Honduras are two countries right next to each other in Central America.
Both countries in question have a dark trend of violence against women – with rape being a substantial problem in both.
Parents of students within the county are troubled with the thought that there’s an unknown number of adult-aged students in the high schools after the revelation of these two cases.
A local news crew had reached out to MCPS to inquire about how many students were in high school that were 19, 20, and 21-years-old.
Here’s how MCPS spokeswoman Gboyinde Onijala responded to the question:
“There is no data suggesting that being a high school student at 19, 20, or 21 makes a person more or less likely to commit a crime. Any suggestion otherwise is wrong and trying to make a connection there to students enrolled in our district is wrong.”
MORE: The Maryland Education Code mandates all state residents – between five and 20 – are entitled to free, public school education. Many 20yo students turn 21 during their final year of schooling.
I asked MCPS how many 19, 20, and 21-year-old students are currently enrolled. pic.twitter.com/s1pGah3ebf
— Kevin Lewis (@ABC7Kevin) February 25, 2020
That’s one way to dodge a reasonable question. At least the schools will not allow either student to return if by some chance they’re offered bail down the line:
“Even though these allegations are unrelated to our schools or to MCPS, we are deeply saddened and troubled by the news of these reported crimes… We want to be very clear that the students will not return to our schools while these cases are pending.”
Still, Maryland law allows for students to receive a public-school education from the county up until they’re 21-years-old.
While it’s very common for students to graduate at the age of 18 or 19-years-old in schools across America, should there be laws specific to keep minors safe from an adult student body?
These two cases are likely to spark that very conversation.
