Police make arrest in 1998 child sexual assault case

SAN ANTONIO – A man has been arrested after 26 years in connection with a 1998 sexual abuse case involving a 15-year-old girl.

55-year-old Arthur Quiroga was identified as the perpetrator in a press conference on Tuesday afternoon by Sergeant Washington Moscoso of the San Antonio Police Department (SAPD).

On July 21, 1998, police were called to the South Side because a 15-year-old girl had allegedly been sexually assaulted. The suspect kidnapped the victim with a firearm, threatened her with the weapon and then sexually assaulted her, police said.

Police found the victim at the scene and took her to a local hospital where she underwent a Sexual Assault Nurse Examination (SANE), at which time the suspect’s DNA was taken.

This year, detectives from the Special Victims Unit (SVU) obtained a CODIS match that linked the DNA profile from the 1998 investigation to a known sample from Quiroga.

On July 11, results from the Bexar County Criminal Investigation Lab arrived, confirming a DNA match to the suspect.

“We don’t stop working. We weren’t able to make the match until 26 years later, but we were able to make an arrest in this case that involved a minor at the time, and hopefully this is the first step in getting justice for the victim,” said Sergeant Moscoso.

The victim is now 41 years old, but at the time of the attack she was 15 and Quiroga was 29.

Sergeant Moscoso said they do not currently know if there are any more victims.

“We hope there are no more victims, but if there are more victims, please come forward.”