Four new rape allegations arose in Blaine County during the past week, three of them in Carey and the other in Hailey.
Suspects have been arrested in two of the cases while the others remained under investigation early this week. All four of the cases involve allegations of older males having consensual sex with underage teenage girls.
Hailey alleged rape case
Nineteen-year-old Mauro Zavala Nunez was arrested by Hailey police last Friday for allegedly having sex with a 15-year-old Bellevue girl the previous day.
A probable cause affidavit filed in the case by Hailey police Lt. Steve England acknowledges that the alleged sex act may have been consensual. However, rape charges are typically filed in cases of adults having sex with underage teens.
The probable cause affidavit alleges that the girl skipped school on Thursday, Nov. 1, attended a party that morning at a Forest Bend residence in southern Hailey and drank beer and tequila until she was intoxicated.
The affidavit further alleges that the girl left the party with Nunez, who drove her to a vacant lot on Black Oak Drive in the South Woodside Industrial Park in Hailey. The sexual encounter is alleged to have occurred there in the back of the defendant's vehicle, a white 2001 GMC Denali.
England reported in his affidavit that the girl told him that "she did not know if she would have said 'yes' if she would have been sober."
The alleged sexual encounter was reported to police by the girl and her father the following day.
Court records describe Nunez as a Wood River High School student who lives with his parents in the Woodside area of southeast Hailey. He was formally charged with felony rape Monday afternoon in Blaine County Magistrate Court, where he was advised that the offense could carry a sentence in Idaho of up to life in prison.
The defendant is represented by Hailey attorney Douglas Werth. A preliminary hearing was scheduled for 9 a.m. on Nov. 21.
Nunez was released from the Blaine County Jail later Monday after posting $10,000 bond.
Carey alleged rape cases
A 21-year-old Hailey man, who investigators described as an "illegal alien," was arrested by the Blaine County Sheriff's Office Saturday evening and formally charged Monday afternoon in magistrate court with four felony sex crimes.
Juan Jose Arteaga-Ponce faces two counts of rape and two counts of lewd conduct with a minor child under 16 for allegedly having a sexual relationship with a 14-year-old Carey girl for the past month.
Sheriff's Detective Steve Harkins described the alleged sex as "non-forcible."
The defendant was arrested after sheriff's officers were called to Carey around 9 p.m. on Saturday by family members of the girl who said they had detained the suspect. A sheriff's office incident report says that the girl's brother had removed the keys from the suspect's vehicle and wouldn't allow him to leave.
Public defender Christopher Simms was appointed to represent Arteaga-Ponce. A Spanish-speaking interpreter was required to translate during the defendant's initial court appearance.
Arteaga-Ponce was informed that he could face life in prison for any of the four crimes with which he's charged.
Bond was set at $25,000 and the suspect remained incarcerated Tuesday in the Blaine County Jail.
A preliminary hearing was scheduled for 9 a.m. on Nov. 21.
Sheriff's officers are investigating two other alleged rape cases in Carey. One involves an 18-year-old man alleged to have been involved in a sexual relationship with a 13-year-old girl. The second case is similar but involves a 17-year-old boy allegedly involved in a sexual relationship with a 14-year-old girl.
Harkins said the two cases are related because both girls lived in the same foster home in Carey. He said that the girls' alleged sexual encounters were reported to the sheriff's office by their foster mother.
"Both of these were consensual, they weren't forcible rapes," Harkins said.
Mauro Zavada Nunez
Juan Arteaga-Ponce
