A Fort Bend County jury found a Richmond man guilty of aggravated kidnapping on Wednesday in connection with the rape of a 17-year-old girl, but acquitted him on a charge of aggravated sexual assault.
Milton Alexander Calles, 20, of Quebec Boulevard, was sentenced to 10 years’ probation. However, 240th District Judge Thomas Culver III added a six-month jail term to Calles’ probation, said Assistant District Attorney Laura Gonzalez, who prosecuted the case along with Sherry Robinson.
Manuel Rivera, from the Rosenberg area, who was arrested and jointly charged with Calles, went to trial in November, pleaded guilty t both aggravated kidnapping and aggravated sexual assault, and was sentenced to live in prison.
According to testimony in the case and statements to Rosenberg police, the victim, then 17 years old, got off work early in the morning of Nov. 21, 2004, and went to a convenience store near her Rosenberg home to use a pay phone because he cell phone battery was low.
She was talking on the phone at 3 a.m. when a van driven by Calles passed by three times. On the third pass, she testified, Rivera got out, put his hand over her mouth and forced her into the van.
The two men drove the girl to Beasley where, according to police records and testimony, Rivera sexually assaulted her. Calles said the victim testified at trial that Calles also sexually assaulted her, but originally she didn’t tell that to police.
After about two hours, the two men drove the victim back to within two blocks of the convenience store and let her out of the van.
Gonzalez said she is disappointed that, once Calles completes his jail term, he’ll be released into the same neighborhood where both he and the victim reside.
Under terms of the probation, Calles is to have to contact with the victim, and is required to pay for any counseling the girl undergoes.
