Neighbors in Ejido Don Diego, located on the road to Celaya, responded to a call for help from a neighbor but stopped short of taking justice into their own hands. They subdued and held captive a man who, according to witnesses, tried to sexually abuse a woman and kidnap a child.
On July 17, Facebook groups in Celaya published photos of Simón, a man from that municipality. The information shared on social media stated that he had served a 20-year prison sentence for homicide and rape and, when freed, had gone home, where he abused his own mother and escaped.
He reappeared shortly thereafter. On August 19, he showed up in the community of Ejido Don Diego. At approximately 5 p.m. that day, neighbors heard cries for help from a member of the community named Jessica. The neighbors rushed to her home and found a man attacking her with a weapon. They were able to subdue him and tied his hands and feet. When municipal police arrived, the neighbors handed him over to the authorities.
The Office of Public Security of San Miguel de Allende issued a notice regarding Simón. It stated that after checking various security platforms, it was found that “the alleged perpetrator had a pending arrest warrant for rape. After serving his sentence, he had once again abused a woman.”
Simón was handed over to the Regional Prosecutor’s Office D. Atención requested information from the office, but Antonio León, press officer for the agency, stated that because the crime is of a sexual nature and there is an ongoing investigation, no information can be given at this time. Further information will be provided once the case is brought to trial or concluded.
Neighbors remember previous rapes and robberies
The neighbors recalled similar cases a decade ago when serial rapes occurred nearby, mostly in the Allende Dam area. Between 2009 and 2011, 10 formal complaints of theft and rape were lodged and presented to Regional Prosecutor’s Office D. Unbeknownst to the residents of Don Diego, the brothers José Miguel and Rigoberto Sánchez Cortez and their sister Maria de la Luz were the culprits. José Miguel had come to live in their community, and his siblings, Rigoberto and Maria de la Luz, resided in the Montes de Loreto neighborhood. When they were captured, the neighbors were shocked to find out that a criminal had been living among them, and the crimes occurred so nearby without them noticing. Given that precedent, Simón’s attack prompted them to act immediately.
The Allende Dam, especially in unpopulated areas such as the lower part of Los Frailes, is the perfect place for recreation when the water level drops. Couples often go there to hang out. Some of these couples became victims of rape and robbery by the two brothers and their accomplice sister.
According to the State Attorney General, Carlos Zamarripa Aguirre, the first complaint of this type was received at the Regional Prosecutor’s Office in November 2009 after a woman was kidnapped at the dam, taken to a house in the Montes de Loreto neighborhood, and sexually abused.
“An investigation was carried out for several months, and when the second event took place in February 2010, investigators found similarities in the modus operandi and in the biological evidence obtained from the rape victims. Based on this evidence, investigators determined that this rape was part of serial attacks,” the prosecutor stated in June 2011, when the culprits were arrested, and that news was made public.
The prosecutor explained, “Deployment of police allowed their capture in the Allende Dam vicinity, the area with the highest incidence by those likely responsible. Ministerial police officers posing as a couple attracted the detainees to try to steal property and rape the woman.” The culprits remain detained in the State Center for Social Re-adaptation.