Child rape suspect arrested in Tacoma after 2 years on the run

TACOMA, Wash. — A man wanted for child rape and molestation was arrested and booked Tuesday night in Tacoma after being on the run for two years, according to the Pierce County Sheriff’s Office.

Juan Steagall-Martinez, 53, was arrested by deputies just before 10 p.m. Tuesday for charges of first-degree rape of a child and two counts of child molestation.

“We end up being on a disturbance call, really no crime occurring. And we find our guy just randomly like this,” said Sergeant Darren Moss.

On Tuesday night, a neighbor called 911 regarding a verbal domestic violence incident at the Olympic Village Apartments in Tacoma.

Deputies found Steagall-Martinez standing outside a unit repeatedly knocking on the door. The neighbor told responding deputies with the sheriff’s office that they believed Steagall-Martinez was kicked out by his roommate who lived in the complex.

One of the deputies immediately recognized Steagall-Martinez from a wanted poster for his arrest regarding a child rape allegation.

“After such a long time, we had believed he had fled to Mexico and all of a sudden the mother of one of the victims saw him in Tacoma Park just a couple weeks ago,” Moss explained.

A 6-year-old girl and an 8-year-old girl accused Steagall-Martinez of touching and sexually assaulting them in 2022. The incidents happened when he worked as a maintenance worker at a Tacoma mobile home park where they lived and played.

According to court documents, Steagall-Martinez allegedly molested a 6-year-old girl at a mobile home park when he worked as a maintenance man there in August 2022. He was considered a “good friend” of the girl’s family, who they had known for three years before the incident. The victim’s mother said that Steagall-Martinez lived two trailers down from them at the trailer park and he had been left alone with the victim in the past.

In an interview with law enforcement, the girl later told them details regarding other instances when she was molested and sexually assaulted by Steagall-Martinez in his trailer.

After the victim’s parents confronted Steagall-Martinez about the incident, Steagall-Martinez denied the allegation and left the complex and hasn’t been seen since.

Stegall-Martinez is also suspected in multiple other cases of child molestation when he worked as a maintenance man at the mobile home park.

On Aug. 19, 2022, deputies with the sheriff’s office called the family of another victim, an 8-year-old girl, who he’d hugged and touched inappropriately.

In a separate incident in September 2022 2022, deputies reached out to another mother who was told by her daughter that she’d been touched by Stegall-Martinez.

“Whenever we have somebody that is targeting children, we always are concerned that they’re going to find more of them. That they’re going to have more victims that they’re going after. But having him in custody, we know we can prevent that right now,” Moss said.

Stegall-Martinez was booked into the Pierce County Jail. He appeared in court on Wednesday afternoon for his first appearance hearing.

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