5 things to know about toddler's rape in Immokalee's Guatemalan community

Stacey Henson | Naples

Show Caption Hide Caption Teen recounts horrific story about aftermath of toddler's rape Reynaldo Mateo, 18, tells of what his partner, a 16-year-old teen, witnessed the morning a toddler was raped in the trailer home they live in. The trailer is home to several tenants who cycle in and out of the four-bedroom house.

When a 16-year-old Guatemalan immigrant saw a man and a toddler, blood covering their legs, in the bathroom of the crowded trailer home where she lives in Immokalee, she ran to her bedroom and locked the door. Afraid of both the man and authorities, she instead spent hours trying to get the little girl's father to seek medical treatment for her.

The subsequent arrest of the father on neglect charges and the search for the attacker reveal a growing gap in police investigations because of language barriers with the Immokalee immigrant population.

Here's what you need to know about the story:

More: Language barrier in Southwest Florida's growing Mayan community hinders justice for toddler's brutal rape

Imbedded distrust of authority

1. The teen who witnessed the aftermath of the rape didn't call police because she said she didn't know how. She's been in the country for less than a year and speaks neither English nor Spanish. Experts say the Guatemalan region she comes from went through a civil war and authorities aren't trusted, especially by indigenous women, who have long suffered from racism and violence.

More: Arrest warrant recalled after witnesses recanted statements about toddler's rape

Immokalee is a popular landing spot

2. The Guatemalan population is growing in Southwest Florida, more than quadrupling in the past two decades between Collier and Lee counties. The rural community of Immokalee is often their destination. When coyotes bring people from Guatemala to the U.S. border, there are usually two choices: Los Angeles or Immokalee, experts say.

What to know about toddler's rape in Immokalee's Guatemalan community Here are things to know about the child's rape in Immokalee, Florida.

Regional dialects add to isolation

3. While 60% of Guatemalans are Mayan, they don't all speak the same dialect and face discrimination in their own country. Spanish is taught in schools, but many indigenous people speak a Mayan language at home. For police to interview the teen witness and father, they had to fly in an interpreter from California.

More: Teen witness: Man jailed after child’s rape is father

Southwest Florida courts adapt to Mayan growth

4. In the last three months, interpretation for a Mayan language was required for 70 Collier and Lee circuit court cases. The two most commonly needed were Mam and Qanjobal. The 16-year-old girl and the baby's father speak Mam.

Police continue to investigate toddler's rape

5. The toddler's father, Hector Gabriel-Jimenez, 23, was arrested on a felony neglect charge. It was a full day later before he sought medical treatment for the girl, amid other accusations he often didn't feed her and left her unattended. Investigators are still searching for the rapist. The Collier County Sheriff's office had identified a suspect in the case, but the office rescinded that after the teen said the man in the picture in flyers distributed by the Sheriff's office was not the one she saw in the bathroom.

More: Caregiver arrested on neglect charges after child found raped; language barrier delays investigation