A man accused of sexually assaulting his daughter for years was ordered held in jail Wednesday.
The now-17-year-old girl went to Atlantic City police in August, saying she believed he had raped her in her sleep, something he had done before, Chief Assistant Prosecutor John Flammer told the judge.
The assaults allegedly began in 2017, when the girl was 14. She is now 17.
Ivan Mendez, 37, was arrested Friday.
At that time, DNA was taken. If that matches evidence from a rape examination, another charge wil be filed, Flammer said.
Mendez denies the allegations, and has agreed to have no contact with any of his children, defense attorney Robert Boney said.
But those conditions along with no prior criminal history were not enough for Superior Court Judge Donna Taylor to release him.
The state had concerns both for the girl’s safety and that of others in the family, Flammer told the judge.
“This defendant poses a danger not only to the victim in this case also to her stepmother and other children that he had contact with in the house,” he said. “There have been numerous acts of violence against both the juvenile victim and stepmother. The juvenile is extremely afraid he will find out where she’s located.”
Fear is what kept her from coming forward earlier, Flammer said.
“She only felt safe to come forward because her stepmother and her siblings had left the house,” he told the judge. “They were in a place, at least in the victim’s mind, where he couldn’t hurt them anymore.”
