Man allegedly sexually abused girls in Osceola County for years

OSCEOLA COUNTY, Florida. – A man arrested Thursday is accused of sexually abusing a girl for several years at a home near Kissimmee, according to the sheriff’s office.

Giancarlo Gonzalez-Nieves, 24, was arrested on a warrant for sexual assault (perpetrator over 18 and victim under 12). He is being held without bail.

The victim told a deputy on June 4 that Gonzalez-Nieves began abusing her about four years ago, when she was about 8 years old, and continued until she was about 12 years old, a sheriff’s news release said. Gonzalez-Nieves was over 18 at the time of the abuse, the news release said.

Detectives from the agency’s special victims unit were able to obtain several confessions from Gonzalez-Nieves that confirmed the victim’s allegations, the sheriff’s office said. The abuse occurred in a home on Pleasant Hill Road south of Kissimmee.

“They were watching the child, just watching — looking after the child,” Osceola County Sheriff Marcos Lopez said at a news conference. “There was no family, they were just family friends.”

The sheriff’s office urged anyone with information about Gonzalez-Nieves – as well as other potential victims – to contact investigators at 407-348-2222.

“From what I understand, he also went to the Palabra De Fe church. I don’t have the exact address, he could have been a participant, trainer, counselor or member there. We will be contacting them there shortly as well to make sure there are no other victims there,” Lopez said. “(…) This incident in the house, I’m not sure if it is directly related to the church because he just told us that he was doing some kind of counseling there, so we are now talking about the church and whether other victims there should come forward and let us know so that we can present further charges against him.”

The headlines of the day in a few minutes with Your Florida daily newspaper: