70-Year-Old Homeless Man Accused of Minor’s Rape in Tent Near Palm Harbor Circle K Will Serve 6 Years in Prison

Jose Valerio-Rodriguez, the 70-year-old homeless Palm Coast man who was facing life in prison on accusations of sexually abusing a 16-year-old girl in his tent near a Circle K on Palm Harbor Parkway last winter, pleaded no contest to three of four charges and was sentenced this morning to six years in prison followed by nine years of sex-offender probation. A fourth charge was dropped. An original charge of sex trafficking brought by the Sheriff’s Office was never filed by the State Attorney’s Office.

Valerio-Rodriguez was on the verge of going to trial, and as recently as December had appeared adamant about wanting a trial. Assistant State Attorney Melissa Clark had offered 15 years in prison, to be served day for day. When he declined during a Dec. 3 appearance before Circuit Judge Dawn Nichols, the judge asked him whether he would at least counter with 10 years. Valerio-Rodriguez refused to do so.

His trial was scheduled to begin Friday. On Tuesday, his attorney, Assistant Public Defender Spencer O’Neal, informed Nichols during an unrelated hearing that the case was resolved and sentencing could take place today.

It was a negotiated plea agreement between O’Neal and Clark that now gives Valerio-Rodriguez at least a chance to see freedom again, around age 76 and likely not in the United States: he may face deportation upon release. He has been at the county jail since his arrest on March 3, giving him almost a year’s credit on his prison sentence, which will effectively be around five years, though he will have to serve all five years: he is not eligible for early release for good behavior. (That would have knocked out another 15 percent of his sentence.)

He was sentenced on one count of unlawful sexual activity with a minor, a first-degree felony that carries a 30-year maximum prison term, and two molestation counts that each carried maximum penalties of 15 years.

Had he gone to trial, and based on the prosecution’s evidence, a likely guilty verdict would have almost certainly resulted in a far harsher sentence. The prosecution had evidence of his befriending the girl over several weeks starting in January 2025, providing her with nicotine vape cartridges, alcohol and pot, and eventually referring to her as his girlfriend. The assault took place on Feb. 17, when he invited her back to his tent behind the convenience store. Hickeys on the girl’s neck alerted her parents to something amiss. She told them what had happened, and the parents called the Sheriff’s Office. He spoke of his acts in a call detectives recorded without his knowledge.

Border Patrol Agent Matthew Zetts confirmed to prosecutors that Valerio-Rodriguez is an undocumented migrant from Cuba with a June 3, 1980 arrest for unauthorized presence in the United States. He was denied bond after his arrest. Flagler County Sheriff’s detective Kathryn Gordon investigated the case.

See the previous article here.