Odessan awaiting trial on molestation charges arrested again after child makes outcry

ODESSA, Texas (KMID/KPEJ)- An Odessa man currently awaiting trial on two counts of Indecency with a Child by Sexual Contact was charged with the same crime a third time after a 12-year-old girl made an outcry earlier this month. Isaiah Felix Cardona, 31, now faces three felony molestation charges.

According to an Odessa Police Department report, on April 13, officers were called to a home near N County Road West and W 10 ^th Street to investigate after a child said that Cardona had touched her inappropriately. The child was taken to a local advocacy center for a forensic interview where she said that she’d been lying in bed when Cardona entered her room and placed a blanket over her because he thought she was sleeping.

The girl said that Cardona then began to run his hands along her body and slipped his hand under her shirt. The child continued to describe the encounter and said that she’d previously told Cardona that his being “touchy” made her uncomfortable.

In an interview with Cardona, officers said that he initially told them he’d placed a blanket over the child and had moved his hand over her body to “adjust” the blanket. As the interview continued, investigators said Cardona admitted that he “grazed” the child’s buttocks and then said that since the blanket was crocheted, his hand “slipped through the blanket and lifted (her) shirt, causing (his) hand to contact her breast”.

Cardona was arrested and taken to the Ector County Law Enforcement Center where he remained as of Wednesday afternoon on a $30,000 bond. Court records show that Cardona was previously arrested in June of 2021 and then indicted in January of 2022 for similar offenses; he’s currently awaiting trial on those charges.

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