Guatemalan Man Charged With Raping 5-Year-Old Girl in Suffolk County

Carlos Aguilar Reynoso, 27, a Guatemalan citizen in the country illegally, was indicted and arraigned March 23 in Suffolk County on charges of predatory sexual assault against a child, first-degree rape, first-degree sexual abuse, endangering the welfare of a child, and resisting arrest, Suffolk County District Attorney Ray Tierney announced. Acting Supreme Court Justice Karen Wilutis ordered him held without bail. His next court date is April 27.

The case began the evening of Feb. 1, when the victim's mother returned home from work in Northport-East Northport and noticed her 5-year-old daughter behaving strangely. The girl told her mother that Aguilar Reynoso had inserted his "privates" into her, according to the district attorney's office. Doctors at a local hospital found the child was still bleeding internally and required specialized care; she was transferred to a specialty hospital, where she received a rape kit and underwent surgery to repair internal injuries. Fox News reported that Aguilar Reynoso had been babysitting the child as a favor to her mother.

Aguilar Reynoso was arrested the following day, Feb. 2, but investigators could only charge him at that point with endangering the welfare of a child because forensic testing was still ongoing. That single charge created an immediate legal problem: under New York's bail reform laws, it is not bail-eligible, meaning prosecutors could not ask a judge to detain him.

A second obstacle emerged from New York's Protect Our Courts Act, a 2020 state law that prohibits ICE and federal immigration authorities from detaining people headed to or from a court appearance. Rather than route Aguilar Reynoso through a traditional court appearance, where that law would have shielded him, Suffolk County authorities issued a desk appearance ticket so he would be processed and released directly from a police precinct. ICE agents took him into custody as he was leaving that precinct on Feb. 2. Fox News reported he has also been issued a final removal order, a detail not corroborated by other outlets covering the case.

Local authorities maintained contact with ICE throughout the following weeks to ensure Aguilar Reynoso would not be deported before more serious charges could be filed. On Feb. 13, DNA evidence recovered from the victim's body was matched to DNA obtained from Aguilar Reynoso while he was in ICE custody, prosecutors said. The match unlocked the felony charges that became the core of the March 23 indictment, on which he faces up to 25 years to life in prison if convicted on the top count.

DA Tierney used the case to publicly criticize state law. "Sanctuary laws in New York already make it difficult for police and prosecutors to protect the public, including our most vulnerable. Here, two progressive reforms, Bail Reform and the Protect Our Courts Act, had to be navigated deftly to hold the defendant responsible for his alleged horrific crimes," Tierney said. He continued: "Incredibly, up in Albany right now, there are new sanctuary laws currently under consideration that would have prevented us from even talking to federal immigration authorities. My message to our state legislators and governor is simple: Stop protecting the rights of alleged child rapists at the expense of child victims. I would also like to commend ICE as a law enforcement partner for preventing this defendant from potentially fleeing these very serious charges."

Acting Assistant Secretary Lauren Bis of the Department of Homeland Security also addressed the case directly: "Carlos Aguilar Reynoso, a criminal illegal alien from Guatemala, was charged for raping a five-year-old child in New York. While local law enforcement processed DNA evidence and built their case, they contacted ICE to arrest this pedophile so he would not be released into our communities to prey on more innocent children."

Aguilar Reynoso remains held without bail as the case moves toward an April 27 court date before Justice Wilutis.