PUNTA GORDA, Fla. -- Imagine your children ending up in or near someone else's house in your neighborhood, only to be preyed upon by the father in the home. That's exactly what two young girls say happened to them in Charlotte County.
A man who has 4 children of his own is accused of showing pornography to a girl visiting his home and massaging a girl he called in from the street.
37-year-old Mario Botello was arrested for inappropriate interactions with two young girls. He was arrested Thursday, according to a Charlotte County Sheriff's Office arrest report.
The two victims, Kaitelinn and Aubrey, described to Fox 4 their interactions with Botello.
Kaitelinn said Bottello grabbed her arm, took her into his back bedroom and forced her to watch adult pornography. “He grabbed me by my arm, pulled me into a room and showed me a nasty video and I kept telling him I’m not allowed to watch it and he kept making me watch it,” she said.
She was able to open the door and run back home to tell her mother what happened, according to the Charlotte County police report.
Botello asked the other victim, Aubrey, who was walking home around 6 p.m, if she wanted a foot massage and proceeded to show her lotion.
She said she felt uncomfortable and was able to escape by telling him her mother text her.
"I didn't know what to do. There was a point where I was so scared and I had sat down and he had given me a massage and so I was thinking 'okay, how do I get out of this?' And so I had acted like my mom had texted me telling me to come home,” Aubrey explained.
Both girls told their mothers of the situation immediately. The mothers called the Charlotte County Sheriff's Department shortly after.
“She was absolutely horrified crying, thought she did something wrong like it was her fault and I had to explain to her it absolutely was not her fault,” said Angel Almand, one of the mothers.
"She did the bravest thing...this could of happened to anyone," said Krystal Coleman, a mother of the victim.
The mothers and girls felt so strongly about how they were able to escape, they wanted to share their story in the hopes of protecting other girls like them.
Botello is facing charges of false imprisonment with a child under 13, showing disturing obscene material to a minor and misdemeanor battery, deputies said.
