Honduran man faces trial on rape charges
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A Honduran national who is in the United States illegally was ordered to stand trial for the rape of a 16-year-old Washington girl at his home in Washington earlier this year.
Roger Emilson Acosta-Pagoada, 37, of 140 W. Walnut St., also was ordered held for court on charges of false imprisonment and luring a child into a motor vehicle by District Judge Jay Weller following a preliminary hearing Wednesday in Central Court.
Before the start of the hearing, Weller clarified there were two interpreters in the courtroom. One was for Acosta-Pagoada. The other interpreted for the alleged victim, who also is Hispanic, and for the court.
The girl told Assistant District Attorney Traci McDonald that she met Acosta-Pagoada in November at a coin laundry. The two exchanged cellphone numbers and kept in touch as friends, and she continued to see him at the laundry. The girl said she told him her age, and he told her he was 34.
In April, he reportedly picked her up outside Washington High School, where she attended classes. When he offered her a ride, she initially said “no” but then agreed to get in his vehicle because they were friends.
The girl said Acosta-Pagoada took her to his home. When he told her that he wanted to have sex, she said she refused until he threatened to harm her and her family. She said he grabbed her by the hands, took her to his bedroom and had sex with her.
When he took her home, he repeated his threat to harm her and her family if she told someone what happened, the girl said. Acosta-Pagoada also is accused of raping the girl a second time at his home on another day.
The girl said her father found out the two had sex, and she initially told him it was consensual because she was afraid.
Under cross-examination by Brian Gorman, who represented Acosta-Pagoada, the girl said she was afraid because she was warned by her father not to give her cellphone number to anyone at the coin laundry.
Acosta-Pagoada remains in Washington County jail on $100,000 bond and a federal immigration detainer.