A 20-year-old “undocumented” immigrant caught with fake identification has been charged in connection with the sexual assault of a 14-year-old autistic girl in sanctuary California.
Enrique Bautista Vasquez, 20, is accused of raping the autistic teen after he allegedly lured her to his Cathedral City, California, apartment on New Year’s Eve. Cathedral City is a desert resort city about five miles from ritzy Palm Springs, California.
BREAKING: Illegal charged with r*ping an autistic 14-year-old girl in California.
Enrique Bautista Vasquez allegedly lured the girl to his apartment on New Year’s Eve and r*ped her. He also had fraudulent Social Security& permanent resident cards.
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Vasquez was charged with one felony count of sexual assault on a minor and other offenses. He was also found with a fake ID and a social security number, according to local reports.
Authorities also added sentence-enhancing allegations of sexual assault of a person unable to consent and abuse of a victim deemed “particularly vulnerable,” NBC Palm Springs reported. Vasquez also allegedly sodomized the girl, police said.
The Cathedral City Police Department launched an investigation after the assault was reported around 7 a.m. Jan. 1, but it took a couple of weeks to arrest Vasquez. He was formally charged on Jan. 21, according to City News Service.
A medical examination supported the victim’s account of being raped, according to a bail-setting declaration. Investigators also found blood on the bed sheets after executing a search warrant at his apartment on Jan. 16, the day he was arrested.
According to CCPD Detective Steven Armenta, the alleged assault occurred late on the night of Dec. 31, into the predawn hours of Jan. 1, in the apartment Vasquez shared with others, NBC Palm Springs reported.
The victim’s identity was not disclosed, but she reportedly has a habit of leaving her family’s home without telling anyone and walking the streets. Family members said it is due to her autism, Armenta said.
According to the police affidavit, the 14-year-old walked to Mayfield College in Cathedral City on Dec. 31 for unknown reasons. She was approached by an unknown man, later identified as Vasquez, near the campus, Patch.com reported.
The suspect convinced her to walk with him around a business center and then coerced the girl back to his residence, where the sexual assault occurred, Armenta said.
“Once the two arrived at his apartment, they engaged in vaginal intercourse,” the detective said, adding that during the alleged assault, Vasquez also sodomized the girl.
The victim stayed at the apartment for several hours but was later allowed to leave and returned home. Her family contacted the police the same day, prompting an immediate investigation.
When searching the apartment, investigators also discovered “a pair of black women’s boots in his closet, which were reported by the victim to have been left in the bedroom after their encounter, due to the fact that they were wet from the rain,” Armenta wrote in court documents.
Investigators initially had trouble confirming his identity because he had a fraudulent Social Security card and a federal Permanent Resident card in his wallet.
Armenta said the Social Security card belonged to a Texas resident and had been issued years before the defendant’s birth. The Permanent Resident card was “fraudulently obtained for immigration purposes,” according to the bail affidavit.
Investigators determined that Vasquez is a “foreign national” who entered the country illegally. Armenta told the court Vasquez should be considered “a flight risk who will undoubtedly evade future legal proceedings” if he is released from custody.
Vasquez was initially held in lieu of $1 million bail at the Benoit Detention Center, but after his initial court appearance, the judge increased his bail to $2 million, City News Service reported.
NBC Palm Springs reported that the defendant has no documented prior felony convictions in California. However, several news outlets in the Oakhurst area of California reported a 20-year-old Enrique Vasquez from Fowler was arrested in another sexual assault case in September 2025.
Sierra News Online reported an 18-year-old victim told police she met Vasquez on the popular dating app Tinder. During their meeting, she claimed that she had been sexually assaulted multiple times. She later reported the assault to the Madera County Sheriff’s Office and told deputies she was sexually assaulted more than once, according to another local report.
In a mugshot posted with the Sierra News article, the suspect has blonde hair. Oakhurst is about six hours north of Cathedral City, and news outlets did not confirm the suspect is the same man.
Detectives with the Madera County Sheriff’s Office expressed concerns that Vasquez may have interacted with other young women through dating platforms and there “could be additional victims in the Central Valley who have not yet come forward with their experiences,” according to Sierra News Online.
