A U.S. woman, age 27, filed a criminal complaint against a man who she says raped her last Sunday on a beach in the southern Caribbean town of Puerto Viejo, according to the Judicial Investigation Police (OIJ).
On Tuesday night, National Police officers in Limón province arrested a local resident with the last names Santos Hernández, 38, as the main suspect.
The man was identified after OIJ agents reviewed footage from a security camera at a bar, where both the victim and suspect had been before the alleged rape. The video shows the suspect approaching the victim.
OIJ said Santos has a criminal record associated with rape.
The police report states that the attack occurred last Sunday at around 3 a.m. on a beach near the bar where the suspect approached the victim. According to the statement “the man forced the tourist to leave the bar, [and] took her to the beach, where he allegedly raped her.”
The Prosecutor’s Office said Thursday morning that a criminal court in the Caribbean canton of Bribri ordered preventive prison for three months against the suspect while OIJ agents proceed with the investigation.
