Woman who ran day care accused of allowing husband to sexually assault children

A woman who ran a day care out of her mobile home is accused of looking the other way while her husband for years sexually abused three girls she was paid to babysit.

Maria Robles, 64, is charged with criminal sexual contact of a minor under 13 and child abuse. Prosecutors allege the sexual abuse went on from 2009 to 2015 and involved three girls between the ages of 6 and 7.

“All three of the child victims in this case disclosed that they either told Maria (Robles) about the crimes or that she knew the children were alone with Jesus (Soriano-Govea) and would have heard them screaming or crying,” according to a criminal complaint filed in Metropolitan Court.

Soriano-Govea was indicted by a grand jury Thursday on 15 counts of criminal sexual contact of a child under 13 and four counts of child abuse. He is behind bars at the Metropolitan Detention Center, and a judge granted a motion to keep Soriano-Govea in jail until trial.

A warrant for Robles’ arrest was issued Friday.

Detectives searched the couple’s mobile home April 10 and found multiple boxes of homemade DVDs and video cameras, the complaint states. On the DVDs, police found videos of Soriano-Govea sexually assaulting young girls, in one video turning the camera to show he was filming.

“I attempted to interview Maria (Robles) but she stated she did not want to talk with me about the allegations,” according to the complaint.

The abuse was initially reported in mid-January after A.J., now 16, came forward, leading two other girls, M.L., and M.A.L. to also come forward to say Soriano-Govea assaulted them. The girls, whose parents hired Robles to babysit due to working long hours, said the assault happened almost every day for years.

The girls told police Soriano-Govea would entice them, sometimes with money, to get them to go into the back room where the assault would occur. During the assaults, the girls said they would scream, but Robles would never help them and told one girl she was “asking for it” when she mentioned the abuse.

One of the girls said the wife would also record her as she undressed and say she was going to show the video to Soriano-Govea, the complaint states. The girls said they feared reporting the abuse and that most parents trusted Robles and Soriano-Govea because they portrayed themselves as devoutly religious.

The girls have told police that they were not the only ones abused by Soriano-Govea and the Albuquerque Police Department is asking any other potential victims to come forward.