ESTRELLA RODRIGUEZ - 12 yo - Harlingen (Southern border) TX

Harlingen Police Report on May 10, 2010 at approximately 12:45 p.m.
twelve year old Estrella Rodriguez was seen leaving in the company of a
34 year old male who has now been identified as Ernesto Galvan. Estrella’s
mother contacted the Harlingen Police to report she did not know the
whereabouts of her daughter and a report was filed. Ernesto
Galvan is known to frequent the City of Harlingen and Santa Rosa,
however attempts to locate Ernesto Galvan and Estrella Rodriguez have
been unsuccessful. It is possible they may be traveling in a 1988
red Chevy Blazer.


Estrella Rodriguez was last seen wearing a
white muscle shirt and blue shorts, and was wearing Converse tennis
shoes (unknown color). She is 5’0” tall, weighs 120 lbs, and has
black shoulder length hair, brown eyes, and is of medium complexion. Ernesto
was last seen wearing a white t-shirt and black jean shorts.He
is 5’3”, weighs 150 to 180 lbs, has short salt/peppered spiked hair,
brown eyes, and is of dark complexion. On May 14, 2010, The
Texas Department of Public Safety/Amber Alert Division issued an Amber
Alert for Estrella Rodriguez. Anyone with information in this
case please contact the Harlingen Police Department at (956) 216-5940 or
(956) 427-8787.

An Amber Alert has ended after a missing 12-year-old was found at
Harlingen City Lake early Saturday morning.

http://www.valleycentral.com/news/story.aspx?id=457491

An Amber Alert has ended after a missing 12-year-old was found
at Harlingen City Lake early Saturday morning.The mother of
Estrella Rodriguez reported her daughter as missing on Friday.The
12-year-old girl was last seen with 34-year-old Ernesto Galvan in a red
Chevy Blazer.Authorities issued an Amber Alert for the two
around 9:30 p.m. Friday.Harlingen police
officers found the missing girl around 4 a.m. Saturday.The girl
told police that Galvan had dropped her off there.Galvan's
whereabouts remain unknown.

A kidnapping suspect has a long criminal history.


Harlingen police and a special agent from the U.S. Department of Homeland
Security arrested Ernesto Galvan at a Harlingen house Thursday. He’s
accused of enticing a child and aggravated sexual assault of a 12-year-old girl.

The girl disappeared May 10. An Amber Alert was issued for her on May 14.
Police found the 12-year-old safe at the city lake. She’s now safe at home.

Galvan is being held on a $100,500 bond. He's been in and out of jail for the past 17 years.

Cameron County sheriff’s deputies arrested Galvan
back in 1993 for attempted murder. He was sentenced to serve five years
on a lesser charge and was release early.

In 2000, Santa Rosa police got him for evading arrest. Two years later, they arrested him
for breaking into a building.

Harlingen police arrested him in 2008 for felony theft. Additional charges Galvan faces include
marijuana possession.

Court documents are painting a clearer picture of a
relationship between a 34-year-old man and a 12-year-old girl in a
Harlingen Amber Alert case.Records released on Monday morning
show that Ernesto Galvan had a previous relationship with the girl and
that they considered each other boyfriend and girlfriend.The
records shows that the girl stayed with Galvan’s family and even hid in a
bedroom when a detective came by their Harlingen apartment looking for
Galvan.It’s still not clear how Galvan and the girl met, but a
probable cause affidavit shows that the two had an ongoing romantic
relationship.The affidavit showed that the girl and a friend left
a local alternative school/boot camp on Monday, May 10th to meet Galvan
with the intention of never returning home.The girl told police
that she and Galvan were in love and wanted to live together for the
rest of their lives.The affidavit shows that the girl asked
police not to arrest Galvan and that ‘it was all her fault.‘“Ernesto
is the only person who has really ever loved me, and who cares about
me,” she told police.The girl told police that she stayed with
Galvan’s family, who took care of her.The 12-year-old said Galvan
and his “home girl” would leave to go “make money” to help pay for the
bills and take care of her.Galvan allegedly told the girl, “I
love you forever, I want us to stay together forever, I will take good
care of you and love you, I will love you and give all the things you
never had.”The girl allegedly told police that they had been
sexually active at least four times and that he had taken precautions so
she wouldn’t get pregnant.Galvan allegedly told the girl, “I
know that you being with me is wrong, but I love you, and I can’t help
it, I cannot live without you, I will love you forever.”The
girl’s parents filed a runaway report and showed detectives a picture of
their daughter’s “older” boyfriend that they found on her cell phone.A
jailer recognized the photo as Galvan prompting police to start the
process to issue an Amber Alert due to Galvan’s criminal history.Public
records show that Galvan had previous arrests in attempted murder,
theft, marijuana, evading arrests and other criminal cases.Santa
Rosa police told Harlingen police that Galvan was also a suspect in a
recent drive by shooting in their city.According to the
affidavit, Galvan’s family saw the girl’s photo in an Amber Alert on the
10 p.m. news on the night of Friday, May 14th.Galvan’s mother
allegedly told the girl to leave and asked Ernesto to take her back
home.Galvan allegedly told her, “You better go home, I don’t want
to let you go, but you have to go, so we don’t get into trouble.”According
to the affidavit, Galvan walked her to a nearby Stripes store and told
her to go home.The girl went to a friend’s house whose parents
called her mother.The girl told police she ran away before her
mother arrived to the Harlingen City Lake where police found her with
two juvenile boys.Galvan remains in custody under $100,500
dollars in bonds for enticing a child and aggravated sexual assault of a
child charges.

A 34-year-old man remains behind bars under child sex abuse
charges.Police say Ernesto Galvan's victim is a 12-year-old girl.New
documents released on Monday reveal an intimate relationship between
the two that sparked an Amber Alert two weeks ago. The affidavit
gives an insight into the alleged relationship between 34-year-old
Ernesto Galvan and a 12-year-old.The documents reveal the girl
told police, "Ernesto was the only person who ever really loved her,"
and that she and Galvan were in love and wanted to live together for the
rest of their lives. Sara Munguia, a child forensic interviewer with Estrella's House
in Hidalgo County offered insight into why such a young girl would be have this kind of
relationship with an older man. Munguia says, "They honestly
believe that if you break them apart that's going to finish their
world.."The 12-year-old allegedly told police she and Galvan were
sexually active."The child honestly thinks that this person is
there to take care of them," Munguia said.Munguia says to the
alleged pedophiles it's all about gaining the victim's trust."This
person has groomed them in such a way that there's trust, and they have
gained the child's trust, giving them the trust to be there, to be an
ear," Munguia said.Munguia said suspects in cases like this will
sometimes entice victims with material things and build up their
confidence."The attention, and the relationship," she said.In
this case, the alleged relationship was short-lived.For now
Ernesto Galvan remains behind bars on charges of enticing and aggravated
sexual assault of a child.

Court records point to an ongoing and intimate relationship between a
12-year-old Harlingen girl and a 34-year-old Santa Rosa man that
resulted in an Amber Alert issued for the girl earlier this month and
ended with the man’s arrest late last week on an aggravated sexual assault charge.

Records state that the girl’s mother went to Harlingen
police in late April, worried that her daughter had been coming home
with hickeys on her neck and that she had been sending “sexually
explicit photos” of herself via cell phone to Ernesto Galvan, a
34-year-old Santa Rosa man who was later arrested and charged with
enticing and sexually assaulting the girl.

The girl’s mother filed a possession of child pornography report with Harlingen police on
April 22 over the lurid cell phone photos, Galvan’s arrest warrant affidavit states.

Then, on May 10 the girl’s family filed a
missing person report with Harlingen police, saying the teenager had run
away from the Secondary Alternative Center, a school for students with
behavioral problems, the affidavit states. According to court records,
the girl left the school planning to meet up with “her 34-year-old
boyfriend” and “never to return home.”

Four days after the girl’s disappearance, the Texas Department of Public Safety issued an
Amber Alert for her, saying she was last seen with Galvan. Hours after
issuing the alert, police found the girl near Harlingen City Lake and reunited her with her family.

According to the affidavit, the girl told investigators during an interview “that she and Ernesto are in
love and want to live together for the rest of their lives.”

The girl pleaded with investigators not to arrest Galvan and “kept
repeating that she left with Ernesto because she wanted to and that
Ernesto had not kidnapped her,” the affidavit states. The girl at one
point also said that she wanted to have a baby with Galvan, the
affidavit states.

The girl admitted to investigators that she and
Galvan had sex on more than four occasions, and told investigators that
Galvan never forced or hurt her, court records state.

According to the affidavit, the teenager told officers, “Ernesto is the only
person who has really ever loved me, and who cares about me.” The girl
also admitted to investigators that Galvan had told her, “I know that
you being with me is wrong, but I love you, and I can’t help it, I
cannot live without you, I will love you forever,” the affidavit states.

While investigating the girl’s disappearance, detectives learned that Galvan
was wanted by Santa Rosa police in connection with a drive-by shooting,
court records state. During the investigation, Harlingen police sent an
inter-departmental e-mail giving Galvan’s possible addresses and warning
that he might be carrying a 9mm handgun, the affidavit states.

SantaRosa Police Chief Xavier Martinez could not be reached for comment Tuesday.

Cameron County court records show that Galvan has been
in and out of jail since he was a teenager on a handful of felony
charges, including a 1994 attempted murder charge for which he was given
a five-year sentence.

Galvan eventually left the girl at a Stripes store on the corner of 1st Street and Washington Avenue the
night of May 14 after seeing local media reports of the Amber Alert,
court records state. According to the affidavit, Galvan told the girl,
“You better go home, I don’t want to let you go, but you have to go so
that we don’t get into trouble.”

Police arrested Galvan last Thursday, charging him with enticing a child and aggravated sexual
assault of a child, a first-degree felony. Jail records show he is
currently being held at the Cameron County jail on $100,500 bail.

The mother of a man jailed in an Harlingen Amber Alert case is now
facing criminal charges of her own.Harlingen police arrested
Agapita "Pita" Rangel Galvan on a harboring a runaway charge around 4
p.m. Tuesday.Investigators allege that Galvan allowed a
12-year-old girl at the center of an Amber Alert to stay at her East
Madison Avenue apartment for several days last month.Galvan's
34-year-old son Ernesto Galvan remains behind bars under enticing a
child and aggravated sexual assault of a child charges.Court
records released in his case show that Ernesto Galvan and the girl had a
sexual relationship.The same records show that Agapita Galvan
allowed the girl to stay at their apartment and even allowed her to hide
in a bedroom when a police detective came by the house.Agapita
Galvan appeared before Harlingen Municipal Judge Travis Bence on
Thursday morning where she received a $1,000 dollar bond.If
convicted, Agapita Galvan could face one year in jail and/or a $4,000
dollar fine.