Iris Iliana Rodriguez has been on the run since 2015 when Webb County, Texas, issued a warrant for her arrest. Rodriguez was accused of having inappropriate relations with an 11-year-old while working as a counselor. Photo courtesy Texas Department of Public Safety
Jan. 13 (UPI) — A Texas woman wanted for sexually abusing a child is now in police custody.
Members of INTERPOL Mexico arrested Iris Iliana Rodriguez, 34, on Dec. 11, in Jalisco Mexico. Her arrest was announced Friday.
Webb County issued a warrant for Rodriguez’s arrest in 2015. She was charged with three counts of indecency with a child by sexual contact, three counts of harassment and one count of unlawful restraint.
Officials with the Texas Department of Public Security said Rodriguez had an inappropriate relationship with an 11-year-old girl while she was working as a counselor for a Child, Adolescent and Parent Services program in Laredo.
Rodriguez later found employment at the Border Region Behavioral Health Center in Laredo as a CAPS Counselor, which allowed her to visit the victim at school under the pretense that she was offering the child support, authorities said.
Other warrants have been issued for Rodriguez’s arrest, including indecency with a child by sexual contact and flight to avoid prosecution.
Her arrest was the result of a tip authorities received through Texas Crime Stoppers. DPS promised a cash reward of $5,000 for information leading to Rodriguez’s location and arrest. It was not revealed if the sum was paid out.
The U.S. Marshals Service, Texas Department of Public Safety Criminal Investigations special agents from Laredo and Marshals Country Attaché in Mexico assisted INTERPOL Mexico in making the arrest.
The Jalisco Prosecutor’s Office said Rodriguez also was wanted by American authorities for allegedly holding a 12-year-old captive between 2014 and 2015 in Webb County.