New Mexico man arrested for allegedly molesting 10-year-old after girl’s mother finds 'explicit' phone video

LAS CRUCES, N.M. (TCD) --

A New Mexico man was arrested Tuesday on suspicion of sexually assaulting a girl over the course of nearly a year.

Police said Las Cruces resident Alan Duane Dodson had been in a relationship with a woman related to the alleged victim.

Las Cruces Police said Dodson, 47, sometimes watched the girl when the girl’s mother went to work. The girl was reportedly 10 years old in April 2020, when the first assault allegedly occurred.

Dodson had been asked by the victim's family to babysit the girl and her siblings, the Las Cruces Sun-News reports.

Police said the alleged assaults continued until March 2021.

The girl’s mother found an explicit video, police said, on the girl’s cellphone, and called the Las Cruces Police Dept. on May 1.

The victim told police Dodson molested her four times, including on Christmas, the Sun-News reports.

Alan Dodson was arrested on Tuesday, June 15, and booked into the Doña Ana County Detention Center on two felony counts of first-degree criminal sexual penetration of a minor, and four felony counts of second-degree criminal sexual contact of a minor. Dodson was held without bond.

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