A Miami karate instructor arrested for allegedly molesting one of his 9-year-old students back in 2023 is no longer facing charges.
Read more Potential Tropical Cyclone One prompts tropical storm watches in Texas, Louisiana
Darwin DeJesus Rojas-Frias had been charged with lewd and lascivious molestation of a child under 12 but the case was closed on Monday as his trial was set to begin, court records showed.
According to the court records, Miami-Dade prosecutors had filed a motion for continuance on Friday after the alleged victim and her family had moved to Venezuela and more time would be needed to bring them back to the United States for the trial.
But in response to the motion for continuance, defense attorneys wrote that because the girl and her mother didn’t have legal status in the U.S., “their return would be unlikely.”
They also noted that Rojas-Frias had been jailed since Oct. 10, 2023, saying any further delay would go against his right to a “fair and timely trial.”
Read more Naked man burglarized Miami Beach apartment and battered detective, cops say
Judge Richard Hersch apparently agreed, denying the motion for continuance, and the case was dropped, records showed.
Rojas-Frias, now 60, has been released from jail.
Authorities said Rojas-Frias had been a sensei at Showakai Karate-Do USA on Southwest 88th Street where the alleged incident happened.
According to an arrest report, the girl was having a one-on-one karate session with Rojas-Frias with her mother present, but after the session, the girl told her mother that Rojas-Frias had taken her to a small closet that was out of the view of the mother where the alleged molestation happened.
Rojas-Frias was taken into custody the same day and admitted to taking the girl inside the closet but denied the allegation, the report said.
Read more Why USMNT star Tyler Adams is building ‘mini-pitches’ across the country