DECATUR — Decatur police arrested a man in connection with rape and the resulting pregnancy of a 14-year-old girl, according to a probable cause affidavit filed Thursday with the Benton County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office.
Irineo Tijerina-Palacios, 35, of Decatur was being held Thursday in the Benton County Jail in lieu of a $100,000 bond.
Decatur police received a phone call from Navasota, Texas, Police Department Tuesday alerting them about Tijerina-Palacios, police documents show.
Tijerina-Palacios’ sister in Texas told Navasota police that Tijerina-Palacios informed her about the matter, according to the probable cause affidavit.
Tijerina-Palacios’ brother also called Decatur police Tuesday, gave officers similar information, and said his brother was suicidal, documents state.
Tijerina-Palacios agreed to go to the police station for an interview, and officers took the girl to a doctor for examination, according to the affidavit.
An examination by a doctor revealed the girl is 29 weeks pregnant, the affidavit states.
Tijerina-Palacios would neither confirm nor deny he’d had sex with the girl, according to the affidavit. He told police he planned to take the girl to Tulsa because Tulsa has the best clinics.
Asked if he was taking her to Tulsa for an abortion, Tijerina-Palacios replied he was taking her because she had worms, according to the affidavit.
The girl told examiners she had been getting fat and having stomach aches because she had worms, the affidavit states. She did not know she was pregnant.
Follow-up testing revealed the girl and unborn baby show no major complications, the report states.