PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — A 35-year-old man who posted bail in September for a child sex crime is now being sought by police after not showing up for his court appearance on October 25.
Hector Abel Valdez-Zatarain is accused of sexually abusing a young child while he was babysitting in August at his mother’s home day care. The probable cause document obtained by KOIN 6 News showed Zatarain admitted to the abuse and then “told his mother that he had done something really bad.”
He lives with his mother near SE 122nd and Bush, where she operates the daycare.
He was arrested for 1st-degree sodomy with a child under 12 and held on $250,000 bail. Days later, on September 5, he posted the necessary bail — $25,000 — and had a court appearance scheduled for October 25. Zatarain failed to appear and the warrant was issued for his arrest.
One of Zatarain’s neighbors, who asked KOIN 6 News to protect her identity, said she knew there was a daycare going on at that house. “But they were pretty quiet little kids,” the neighbor said.
She said she didn’t notice anything unusual and “might have seen” Zatarain over the summer “just getting into a car or something, but that was it.”
His alleged crime, she said, “makes me sick.”
“It just really upsets me when people do that especially to children. They’re innocent,” she said. “He’s a coward.”
If you have any information you’re asked to contact Portland police.