Orange City, Iowa — A man who used to live in Hawarden but allegedly fled to Mexico to avoid prosecution has been convicted of a seven-year-old felony sex abuse charge in Sioux County.
That’s according to Sioux County Attorney Thomas Kunstle, who tells us that 29-year-old Misael Topete Topete, formerly of Hawarden, was convicted on Thursday for the crime of Sexual Abuse in the Third Degree, by sexually assaulting a female by force or against her will.
Kunstle’s office says that in the early morning hours on July 9, 2017, Misael Topete entered the basement of his mother’s home in Hawarden, encountering a 19-year-old female, who would become his victim. He says the victim had been going inside the home to sleep. He says Topete forced the victim down on the basement steps, and took advantage of her. The victim reported she resisted and said stop, but Topete did not stop. Further investigation revealed that Topete also confessed to police that the victim told him to stop but that he did not stop.
Kunstle’s office says that one day before the original trial, on March 5, 2018, Topete fled to Mexico becoming a fugitive from justice. On February 18 of this year, Topete turned himself in to authorities. The county attorney’s office tells us that because Sexual Abuse in the Third Degree is a forcible felony, upon conviction Topete was taken into custody and will remain in the Sioux County Jail pending the scheduling of his sentencing hearing.
