• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
MENUMENU
MENUMENU
  • Home
  • About
    • Contact Us
    • FlaglerLive Board of Directors
    • Comment Policy
    • Mission Statement
    • Our Values
    • Privacy Policy
  • Live Calendar
  • Submit Obituary
  • Submit an Event
  • Support FlaglerLive
  • Advertise on FlaglerLive (386) 503-3808
  • Search Results

FlaglerLive

No Bull, no Fluff, No Smudges

MENUMENU
  • Flagler
    • Flagler County Commission
    • Beverly Beach
    • Economic Development Council
    • Flagler History
    • Mondex/Daytona North
    • The Hammock
    • Tourist Development Council
  • Palm Coast
    • Palm Coast City Council
    • Palm Coast Crime
  • Bunnell
    • Bunnell City Commission
    • Bunnell Crime
  • Flagler Beach
    • Flagler Beach City Commission
    • Flagler Beach Crime
  • Cops/Courts
    • Circuit & County Court
    • Florida Supreme Court
    • Federal Courts
    • Flagler 911
    • Fire House
    • Flagler County Sheriff
    • Flagler Jail Bookings
    • Traffic Accidents
  • Rights & Liberties
    • Fourth Amendment
    • First Amendment
    • Privacy
    • Second Amendment
    • Seventh Amendment
    • Sixth Amendment
    • Sunshine Law
    • Third Amendment
    • Religion & Beliefs
    • Human Rights
    • Immigration
    • Labor Rights
    • 14th Amendment
    • Civil Rights
  • Schools
    • Adult Education
    • Belle Terre Elementary
    • Buddy Taylor Middle
    • Bunnell Elementary
    • Charter Schools
    • Daytona State College
    • Flagler County School Board
    • Flagler Palm Coast High School
    • Higher Education
    • Imagine School
    • Indian Trails Middle
    • Matanzas High School
    • Old Kings Elementary
    • Rymfire Elementary
    • Stetson University
    • Wadsworth Elementary
    • University of Florida/Florida State
  • Economy
    • Jobs & Unemployment
    • Business & Economy
    • Development & Sprawl
    • Leisure & Tourism
    • Local Business
    • Local Media
    • Real Estate & Development
    • Taxes
  • Commentary
    • The Conversation
    • Pierre Tristam
    • Diane Roberts
    • Guest Columns
    • Byblos
    • Editor's Blog
  • Culture
    • African American Cultural Society
    • Arts in Palm Coast & Flagler
    • Books
    • City Repertory Theatre
    • Flagler Auditorium
    • Flagler Playhouse
    • Flagler Youth Orchestra
    • Jacksonville Symphony Orchestra
    • Palm Coast Arts Foundation
    • Special Events
  • Elections 2024
    • Amendments and Referendums
    • Presidential Election
    • Campaign Finance
    • City Elections
    • Congressional
    • Constitutionals
    • Courts
    • Governor
    • Polls
    • Voting Rights
  • Florida
    • Federal Politics
    • Florida History
    • Florida Legislature
    • Florida Legislature
    • Ron DeSantis
  • Health & Society
    • Flagler County Health Department
    • Ask the Doctor Column
    • Health Care
    • Health Care Business
    • Covid-19
    • Children and Families
    • Medicaid and Medicare
    • Mental Health
    • Poverty
    • Violence
  • All Else
    • Daily Briefing
    • Americana
    • Obituaries
    • News Briefs
    • Weather and Climate
    • Wildlife

Jose Valerio-Rodriguez, 70-Year-Old Homeless Man, Arrested for Human Trafficking and Statutory Rape of a Minor

March 4, 2025 | FlaglerLive | 13 Comments

Authorities say Jose Valerio-Rodriguez had a tent in the woods behind Frontier Drive, where he engaged in illegal sexual activity with a minor. (Google)
Authorities say Jose Valerio-Rodriguez had a tent in the woods behind Frontier Drive, where he engaged in illegal sexual activity with a minor. (Google)

Jose Valerio-Rodriguez, a 70-year-old homeless man who lived in a tent in the woods behind the Circle K on Palm Harbor Parkway near Frontier Drive, faces a life felony for human trafficking and a second degree felony on allegations of unlawful sexual activity with a minor, or statutory rape.

Flagler County Sheriff’s deputies arrested Valerio-Rodriguez on Monday. The girl and alleged victim had run away and met wit Valerio-Rodriguez in his tent, where the incident occurred. A sheriff’s detective first spoke with the girl at AdventHealth Palm Coast. The girl underwent an examination by a sexual assault nurse examiner, or SANE, and was interviewed in Daytona Beach by a child protection team examiner.




The girl told the examiner that she had met Valerio-Rodriguez late last year at Circle K, where she asked him to buy her a vape, which he did. She then visited him several times a week to smoke, drink alcohol and smoke pot. He would refer to her as his friend, then started referring to her as his girlfriend, and the two would kiss. The girl said she would allow him to do so to obtain drugs. He became increasingly “touchy,” as she described it.

On Feb. 17, the girl ran away from her mother between 8:30 and 9 and went to Valerio-Rodriguez’s tent, where the two started to talk and drink. The girl drank so much that she threw up. She was impaired. According to her account, Valerio-Rodriguez began to grope her, then became more aggressive, to the point of undressing her and assaulting her sexually. He begged her to stay the night. She refused, coming up with several reasons why she had to leave (he had two guns in the tent). Valerio-Rodriguez gave her a ring and wrote his phone number on a piece of paper, told her he loved her and walked her to the front of the Circle K.

Flagler County Sheriff’s detective Kathryn Gordon was assigned the case and set up a controlled call with Valerio-Rodriguez–a call where the girl was at one end, and Valerio-Rodriguez was at the other, unaware that law enforcement was listening in. The girl referred directly to the sexual act Valerio-Rodriguez performed to which he appeared to confirm: “I love it, I love it,” telling her she did very well before becoming explicit about her body, and that she was his only one.




When Gordon and Sgt. Frank Gamarra met with Valerio-Rodriguez at Circle K on March 3, he denied knowing the girl, conceding only that he’d given a ring to a girl. He would not answer further questions. The cops had a search warrant in hand both for Valerio-Rodriguez’s DNA and to search his tent. The search produced “multiple firearms,” the notebook from which he’d ripped the piece of paper to write his phone number on, a vape pen and other items. A pair of female underwear was located in his pocket.

He was placed under arrest and booked at the Flagler County jail. No bond has been set.

On March 5, the Sheriff’s Office announced that Valerio-Rodriguez, who is a Cuban citizen, was found to be living in the country illegally. Due to his immigration status, detectives contacted the Department of Homeland Security, who determined there was probable cause for deportation and issued an immigration detainer. A Flagler County detention deputy, who was also a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Warrant Service Officer, served the detainer on Valerio-Rodriguez. He will be transferred into DHS custody and deported by U.S. Customs and Border Protection when the local arrest is resolved through the courts.

Correction: An earlier version of this article misidentified the location of the Circle K as Palm Coast Parkway, rather than Palm Harbor Parkway.

Support FlaglerLive's End of Year Fundraiser
Thank you readers for getting us to--and past--our year-end fund-raising goal yet again. It’s a bracing way to mark our 15th year at FlaglerLive. Our donors are just a fraction of the 25,000 readers who seek us out for the best-reported, most timely, trustworthy, and independent local news site anywhere, without paywall. FlaglerLive is free. Fighting misinformation and keeping democracy in the sunshine 365/7/24 isn’t free. Take a brief moment, become a champion of fearless, enlightening journalism. Any amount helps. We’re a 501(c)(3) non-profit news organization. Donations are tax deductible.  
You may donate openly or anonymously.
We like Zeffy (no fees), but if you prefer to use PayPal, click here.

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Billy says

    March 4, 2025 at 10:16 am

    Palm Coast is looking like Daytona Holly Hill more and more every day. It will be more like Jacksonville in a few years with tons and tons of illegals and criminals moving in along with the population growth! So this is called progress?

    15
  2. Wondering says

    March 4, 2025 at 10:18 am

    I don’t think Palm Coast Pkwy and Frontier intersect, right? Did you mean Palm Harbor ?

    5
  3. JC says

    March 4, 2025 at 11:05 am

    Illegals and Criminals can be everywhere, not because of population growth. You are off your high horse.

    5
  4. Endless dark money says

    March 4, 2025 at 12:15 pm

    Future republican presidential candidate?

    5
  5. Duane says

    March 4, 2025 at 1:08 pm

    It’s unfortunate that some people, who lack knowledge of the facts, speak so negatively about Holly Hill. The crime that some associate with the city is actually happening in the unincorporated areas of Volusia County and in Daytona Beach, south of Mason Ave. and west of Nova Road. Holly Hill itself is a safe community with relatively low crime comparatively, yet it often bears the brunt of false rumors and unfounded claims.

    1
  6. Charlie says

    March 4, 2025 at 4:20 pm

    This guy is originally from New Yourk and not an illegal.

    2
  7. Marty Barrett says

    March 4, 2025 at 7:07 pm

    Attorney General. Certainly checks all the boxes

    3
  8. JC says

    March 4, 2025 at 9:37 pm

    Mostly by cranky old people who don’t leave Flagler County and think cities = crime/black people/illegals.

    4
  9. Wow says

    March 7, 2025 at 12:38 pm

    I guess that’s the only way for homeless, poor, probably mentally ill, people to get food and shelter. Now he has “Three hots and a cot.” as they say.

    1
  10. FlaglerResident says

    March 8, 2025 at 8:53 am

    Can someone explain the Human Trafficking charge? The article doesn’t mention him ‘selling’ her…unless I don’t understand the definition of HT.
    TIA

    1
  11. FlaglerLive says

    March 8, 2025 at 1:47 pm

    The human trafficking charge is increasingly and usually improperly applied in such cases when the defendant bribes the victim, a vastly different offense from trafficking as defined in federal law: “Sex trafficking is the recruitment, harboring, transportation, provision, obtaining, patronizing, or soliciting of a person for the purpose of a commercial sex act in which a commercial sex act is induced by force, fraud, or coercion, or in which the person induced to perform such act has not attained 18 years of age.” Florida’s definition dilutes that considerably, in essence equating any soliciting act, whether for commercial trafficking or not, with human trafficking, which of course is inaccurate and would apply to any act involving a minor–and is usually not a case prosecutors can win in court. (Florida’s definition: “transporting, soliciting, recruiting, harboring, providing, enticing, maintaining, or obtaining another person for the purpose of exploitation of that person.”)

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

  • Conner Bosch law attorneys lawyers offices palm coast flagler county
  • grand living realty
  • politis matovina attorneys for justice personal injury law auto truck accidents

Primary Sidebar

  • grand living realty
  • politis matovina attorneys for justice personal injury law auto truck accidents

Recent Comments

  • Pierre Tristam on The Daily Cartoon and Live Briefing: Thursday, May 22, 2025
  • Rhonda Conway on Margaritaville’s Compass Hotel in Flagler Beach Opens in Buffett-Themed Celebration of a Downtown Remade
  • Rhonda Conway on Margaritaville’s Compass Hotel in Flagler Beach Opens in Buffett-Themed Celebration of a Downtown Remade
  • Km on Flagler County Clears Construction of 124 Single-Family Houses at Veranda Bay in Latest Phases of 453-Unit Development
  • Sherry on The Daily Cartoon and Live Briefing: Friday, May 23, 2025
  • Laurel on Sheriff Warns of Scammer Peddling Fake Arrest Warrant
  • Ed P on The Daily Cartoon and Live Briefing: Thursday, May 22, 2025
  • Sherry on Maga’s Fearful War on Universities
  • Sherry on Israel’s Catastrophic Starvation of Gaza’s Millions
  • Laurel on Margaritaville’s Compass Hotel in Flagler Beach Opens in Buffett-Themed Celebration of a Downtown Remade
  • Sherry on The Daily Cartoon and Live Briefing: Thursday, May 22, 2025
  • Sherry on Afrikaners are South African Opportunists, Not Refugees
  • Laurel on Palm Coast’s Golden Chopsticks Buffet Open Again 2 Days After Sanitation Inspection Ordered It Closed
  • Laurel on The Daily Cartoon and Live Briefing: Thursday, May 22, 2025
  • TR on Palm Coast City Attorney Calls Mayor Norris ‘Unprofessional and Inappropriate’ 3 Weeks After Censure for Similar Behavior
  • Joe D on Flagler Emergency Management Director Jonathan Lord Warns of a Different Disaster Ahead: the Vanishing of FEMA Money

Log in