$50K bail for man accused of sexual assault of minor

The Superior Court has imposed a $50,000 cash bail on a man accused of sexually abusing a 12-year-old girl.

During a bail hearing last Friday, Superior Court Associate Judge Joseph N. Camacho imposed a $50,000 cash bail on Manuel Mark I. Okaruru, 47, for charges including sexual abuse of a minor in the first degree, assault and battery, and more, for allegedly sexually abusing a 12-year-old girl.

The court did not allow Okaruru, who has an extensive rap sheet ranging from minor to major traffic violations, criminal misdemeanors, to felonies, to post 10% of his bail. This means that Okaruru must post the entire $50,000 bail if he wants to be released temporarily.

Following the bail hearing, Okaruru was remanded back to Department of Corrections custody and was ordered to return to court on Aug. 25, for a preliminary hearing while his arraignment was set for Aug. 29, before Superior Court Presiding Judge Roberto Naraja.

According to court documents, Department of Public Safety units responded to a disturbance call at the Toha Market in San Antonio at around 9:15pm last Wednesday. Officers met with a woman there, who asked police officers to check on her daughter as Okaruru was allegedly hurting her.

They then followed the woman to a house near Toha, where the woman burst into tears and told the officers that Okaruru was hurting her 12-year-old daughter, all while pointing to a girl who was standing nearby. The woman then called the girl over and encouraged her to tell police what had happened, which led the child to start crying before saying that Okaruru touched her privates.

However, as the girl was talking to police, Okaruru was heard calling out to her, which led the victim to stop talking. Police noted that the girl “appeared scared to talk” so they removed the girl and her mother from the area.

The woman told police that Okaruru had shown up at the residence at around 6pm that day, Aug. 17, and she heard him call the child before hearing him “getting mad” at the girl. When she looked outside, she said she saw Okaruru pull out a lighter and throw it at the girl.

Meanwhile, the girl told police that Okaruru was “getting mad” at her because he believes she was plotting against him to have the police “take him away” for his drug use.

In a separate interview the following day, Aug. 18, at the Division of Youth Services, the girl stated that Okaruru hits her mother and touches her inappropriately. The victim said that Okaruru started “touching” her around February or March this year and the abuse had continued during the summer.

The victim said she constantly tells Okaruru to stop but he had threatened to hurt her on one occasion.