Bradenton man charged with using religion to coerce teenage girls into having sex
BRADENTON -- A Bradenton man is charged with using the Santeria religion to coerce two teenage girls into having sex with him multiple times, according to the Manatee County Sheriff's Office.
Sergio Carmona-Martinez, 54, is charged with 30 counts of sexual battery by a person over 18 years old on a victim between the ages of 12 and 18. He is being held at the Manatee County jail on bonds totaling $300,000.
Santeria is an Afro-Cuban religion that includes the worship of Roman Catholic saints, offering to the spirits and rituals that sometimes include animal sacrifice.
Both victims were known to Carmona-Martinez, according to the sheriff's office.
Detectives say he used Santeria to coerce them to have sex, claiming they needed to do whatever the spirit he channeled said.
Carmona-Martinez appeared before Circuit Judge Scott Brownell via video conference for a first appearance hearing Tuesday afternoon. Brownell set his bonds totaling $300,000 and ordered that if Carmona-Martinez posted bond, he would be ordered to have no contact with either victim or any witnesses in the case.
Carmona-Martinez stuttered and appeared confused as he struggled to ask Brownell if he qualified for the supervised release program, instead of having to post a monetary bond. Brownell told him he did not qualify.
The Manatee County Sheriff's Office investigation began a couple weeks ago after the allegations first came to light.
"We got information on March 12 that this could be going on, and that's when we started our investigation," sheriff's office spokesman Dave Bristow said. "In this case, we want to get the word out in case there are other victims."
The first victim, now 16 years old, told detectives she was 14 when she first had sex with Carmona-Martinez in the fall of 2013, according to an arrest report. Carmona-Martinez, who she knew along with his family, had told her that she was surrounded by a bad spirit and that he could help her get rid of it.
Carmona-Martinez told her that he would channel the bad spirit but that once
it possessed him, she would have to do whatever it said. The girl and her boyfriend met Carmona-Martinez at a mobile home in the Christian Retreat Mobile Home Park where he used to live.
Her boyfriend waited outside while she went into the trailer with Carmona-Martinez, according to the report. She was blindfolded throughout the sexual battery and afterward, she said Carmona-Martinez told her she had to have sex with her boyfriend to show the spirit she was still with him, according to the sheriff's office.
The victim told detectives she had sex with Carmona-Martinez three more times at a storage unit at the Simply Self Storage, 2100 U.S. 301 N., Palmetto.
The second victim, now 19 years old, was 16 years old when she said she was first coerced into having sex with Carmona-Martinez. He told the victim that he could help her with her relationship with her boyfriend through his practice of Santeria, according to the sheriff's office.
The first time they had sex, the victim told detectives he asked his family to leave the mobile home they lived in. She, too, was blindfolded and described the encounter nearly identical to the first victim, according to the report. Afterward, he told her that if she told anyone, including his girlfriend, his family or law enforcement, he would get into trouble.
The second victim told detectives this happened about three times a week for a while in 2013 and then slowed to about two to three times a month by the time it stopped in the summer of 2014. She, too, described having sex with Carmona-Martinez in the storage unit as well, according to the sheriff's office.
Jessica De Leon, Herald law enforcement reporter, can be reached at 941-745-7049. You can follow her on Twitter @JDeLeon1012.
This story was originally published March 29, 2016 at 10:40 PM with the headline "Bradenton man charged with using religion to coerce teenage girls into having sex ."