A 51-year-old man who worked for a mobile home park in Midland is accused of sexually assaulting three children over the course of a year, according to the Pierce County Sheriff's Department. A warrant has been issued for his arrest.
Deputies are seeking help from the public to find the man, Juan Steagall-Martinez. According to a Crime Stoppers bulletin shared by the Sheriff's Department, the suspect is believed to be in the Tacoma area, but detectives are concerned he may have fled to Mexico.
Steagall-Martinez was charged in Pierce County Superior Court last week with first-degree rape of a child and two counts of first-degree child molestation. Court records show he has no prior criminal history in Pierce County. Anyone with information on his whereabouts was asked to call Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-TIPS.
According to charging documents, Steagall-Martinez was a maintenance worker at the mobile home park since June 2020, and he's accused of sexually assaulting a 6-year-old girl and two 8-year-old girls. PCSD started investigating Aug. 20 after a deputy was dispatched to Mary Bridge Children's Hospital regarding a child molestation.
The family of one victim told police they were contacted by the property manager about reports that the maintenance person at the mobile home park had been accused of molesting a girl in the area, records state. The mother of one victim reported that her husband confronted Steagall-Martinez, who denied the accusations.
Steagall-Martinez then left the mobile home park. According to the declaration of probable cause, he texted a parent of one girl and said he was sorry, and that she could take anything she wanted from his house.
