Two 13-year-old girls were groped by a man while swimming in Missouri’s Smithville Lake July 4th evening, and the suspect is in custody on child molestation charges, Clay County authorities say.
The girls said the man, identified as Carlos Climaco-Garcia, 26, approached them in the water, asking for their phone numbers and inviting them to go back to Mexico with him. When he was rebuffed, he allegedly groped them and attempted to pull their swimsuit bottoms down.
Deputies detained the suspect coming out of the water. Climaco-Garcia has denied the allegations.
The Heartlander has been told the man has an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detainer on him.
Climaco-Garcia’s bond was initially set at $75,000, and remained there following a bond hearing Thursday morning in which Judge Karen L. Krauser rejected the county prosecutor’s request to increase it to $100,000.
According to a Clay County Sheriff’s Facebook post:
“We put a lot of extra deputies at Smithville Lake over the Independence Day weekend, which led to them immediately being able to catch a man who has now been charged with child molestation.
“A girl and her friend – both younger than 14 – were swimming at Little Platte Swim Beach about 8 p.m. on July 4th, eagerly anticipating the fireworks show. A man swam over to them and tried to ask them personal questions about themselves. They didn’t want to answer and tried to move away. He grabbed both girls at different points, groping them and trying to remove their swimsuit bottoms. They were able to get away by kicking him in the groin.
“They went back on the beach and told the adults they were with what happened. A parent of one of the girls flagged down a deputy who was patrolling the area. The girls described what the man looked like, and deputies saw him coming out of the lake and immediately apprehended him.
“Carlos Climaco-Garcia, 26, has been charged with two counts of child molestation, which are Class B felonies. He is being held on a $75,000 bond, and prosecutors have asked for that bond to be increased.”
