Dayton Police are searching for a Hispanic man who allegedly raped a 6-year-old girl on Sunday, Aug. 28.

The victim's 27-year-old mother was in the process of moving out of an apartment in Dayton on Aug. 28. She told police that a neighbor, Jorge Velasquez Ventura, 36, volunteered to help her move. At some point that morning, she took him to get some beer, according to Dayton Investigator Darrell Bell.

That afternoon, shortly after 2 p.m., the mother was removing TV cable she had taped to the floor and walls, and her daughter was cleaning in her bedroom. She said Ventura wandered into the bedroom and shut the door.

After her daughter had been silent for several minutes, the mother found her daughter lying on the floor without her clothes and Ventura sexually assaulting her, Bell said.

"The mother caught him in the act and began fighting to get him off her daughter," the investigator said. "She then went to call 911, and Ventura pulled the phone out of the wall."

As the mother and daughter went to another apartment to call police, Ventura fled.

When police arrived, Ventura was nowhere to be found. They escorted the mother and daughter to the Rhea Medical Center Emergency Department where the staff collected evidence for a rape kit.

Bell later interviewed the mother and daughter.

"The little girl said she told him to stop, and he told her to shut up," Bell said.

Police initially kept the case quiet, hoping that Ventura would return to his job at Kinro Manufacturing, but he never did.

Dayton Police have received several tips that Ventura has been hiding out in the Hispanic community in several cities in Southeast Tennessee, seeking transportation back to Mexico.

A warrant has been issued for Ventura's arrest for rape of a child, a Class A felony. He is 5 feet 1 inch tall and weighs 135 pounds.

Anyone with any information on Ventura's whereabouts should contact the Dayton Police Department at 775-8403.

John Carpenter can be reached at jcarpenter@xtn.net.