The case of a man accused of attempting to sexually assault an underage girl on the Roswell Jobs Corps campus has been sent to the district court.
On Sept. 18, the case against Rudolfo Mesa, 23, of Silver City, was bound over to the New Mexico 5th Judicial District Court for trial or eventual resolution after his attorney waived Mesa’s right to a preliminary examination, according to electronic court records.
Richard Gould, Mesa’s attorney, did not return calls about the case or the decision to waive the hearing before press time on Saturday.
Mesa, a student at the Roswell Job Corps campus, was charged with one count each of attempted criminal sexual penetration in the second degree of a child and criminal sexual contact with a minor in the fourth degree following a Sept. 8 alleged episode involving a 17-year-old female.
The criminal complaint filed against Mesa states that he groped and attempted to perform sexual acts on the woman, who is also a student at Roswell Job Corps.
Police later learned from witnesses and the alleged victim that she and three other women were outside and talking while on a patio on the campus when Mesa approached them and propositioned them for sex.
Initially, the alleged victim believed Mesa was joking. The complaint states witnesses later said, and surveillance video obtained by investigators corroborated, that Mesa then grabbed the woman by the wrist and took her around a corner behind the patio.
Mesa then allegedly groped the woman, tried to kiss her, exposed himself to her, and pushed her down.
The alleged victim cried out for help just before one of her friends approached and witnessed Mesa standing with his pants down and the alleged victim on the ground.
After the alleged victim rose to her feet and ran behind her friend for protection, the complaint indicates that Mesa responded by pulling up his pants, telling both women goodnight and then fleeing.
When police found and confronted Mesa on campus, he declined to discuss the allegations.
Though a bond was set for Mesa at $25,000, a jail population summary report from the Chaves County Detention Center shows that he remains detained at that facility.
Staff at the Roswell Jobs Corps could not be reached for comment Friday to answer questions about whether Mesa was dismissed from the program due to the allegations made and the charges filed against him.
When the charges surfaced, a representative for the Roswell Jobs Corps said that a statement about the incident would be released by the program at a later date. As of Friday, Roswell Job Corps has still not publicly done so.
