Kurtz described a pattern of sexual assault that started with touching and escalated to groping and, after Aboytes had picked up the child once from her home on the pretense of taking her to the park, ended with rape.

She said Aboytes wrote intimate letters to the child and persuaded her to send him erotic pictures of herself — pictures the girl’s parents eventually discovered that prompted them to call police.

In his opening remarks, Ringel had said those letters, translated from the native Spanish of both Aboytes and the girl, were open to widespread interpretation as to what they meant and the language couldn't be taken at face value.

Ringel said outside of the letters, the prosecution had little else but the word of the child as to what happened, and could offer no physical evidence to support the charge.

2019 mug shots from the Herald & Review

Contact Kennedy Nolen at (217) 421-6985. Follow her on Twitter: @KNolenWrites

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