Registered sex offender in St. Bernard booked with aggravated rape of a child who was left with him

A registered sex offender in St. Bernard Parish, who served 17 years in prison for forcible rape of a woman, has been booked with aggravated rape of a child from the Baton Rouge area who was left with him to watch in April 2012, Sheriff James Pohlmann said.

Marvin Santiago, 53, of Violet, who is still on parole, was arrested Tuesday, Feb 19, after the child’s mother came to the Sheriff’s Office on the night of Mardi Gras to report the boy – under questioning from her – identified Santiago as having molested him, the sheriff said.

The child had been reporting he was in pain and the mother, acting on suspicions, questioned him about whether anyone had touched him, and he named Santiago, Sheriff Pohlmann said.

Sheriff’s detectives from the Juvenile Division went to the boy’s home in the Baton Rouge area for a follow-up investigation, questioning the child themselves. Detectives then went to a St. Bernard judge who signed a warrant for Santiago’s arrest on charges of aggravated rape of a juvenile and sexual battery, the sheriff said.

Santiago is being held in St. Bernard Parish Prison on bond of $200,000 and also has a hold on him for parole violation and couldn’t be bonded out, the sheriff said.

The mother wasn’t the person who left the child with Santiago, Sheriff Pohlmann said. She had brought him to St. Bernard Parish in April 2012 for them to visit relatives and at one point the relatives were baby-sitting the child for the mother. It was the relatives who then allowed Santiago to watch the child without the mother’s knowledge, the sheriff said.

Santiago, arrested at work, denied the allegations.