Man given 8 years for molesting child

BY KEITH EPPS

A man who repeatedly molested a young girl in Stafford County was ordered Tuesday to serve eight years in prison.

Jose Rafael Gamez, 46, of Burlington, N.C., received a total of 50 years with all but eight suspended in Stafford Circuit Court.

Gamez had previously pleaded guilty to forcible sodomy, aggravated sexual battery and indecent liberties in Stafford.

According to the evidence presented by prosecutor Michael Hardiman, the victim was 5 and 6 years old when Gamez molested her in Stafford in 2007 and 2008.

Gamez periodically came to Stafford to visit the child’s family.

The child had moved to North Carolina before she told anyone what Gamez had done.

The evidence showed that she had watched a “good touch/bad touch” puppet show at her new school in North Carolina when she wrote her teacher a letter stating that a man had done some of those things to her.

The school notified police in Burlington, and authorities there contacted the Stafford Sheriff’s Office after determining that the incidents had taken place when the child lived here.

Gamez was arrested Aug. 10, 2011, and has been in custody ever since.

 Court records list Gamez as an illegal immigrant.

Several people spoke on Gamez’s behalf at his sentencing, saying he was a good man.

They blamed his crimes in part on his childhood, mentioning that his father died when he was 12 and he had to quit school and start working then.

Keith Epps: 540/374-5404

kepps@freelancestar.com

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