They met on social media, the 18-year-old testified. He contacted her, she added him to her friends list, they flirted on the phone. They met, they kissed and they had sex the second time they met.
The sex happened the day before she turned 16, she said. He told her he was 18.
He was actually 24.
Monday was the first day in the sexual assault of a child trial of Joel John Valdez in the 161st Ector County District Court.
Valdez, who has been a registered sex offender since 2009, is also awaiting trial for failure to comply with registration requirements.
The girl he is accused of sexually assaulting on multiple occasions between October 2019 and February 2020 was among the first witnesses to take the stand. The Odessa American does not publish the names of alleged sexual assault victims.
The first witness was Brihana Valdez, Joel John Valdez’s wife at the time.
The alleged victim told jurors she was a freshman in high school in August 2019 and used Facebook, Snapchat, Instagram and Twitter to communicate with her friends. After becoming friends with Valdez on Snapchat, they spoke often and even discussed her virginity, she said. The first few times he asked to meet her in person, she said, no, but eventually relented.
When he came over the first time, Valdez said his mom dropped him off, she testified. They hung outside by her shed, they kissed, and he caressed her buttocks, she said.
The next time he came over, she sneaked him into her house because her mother didn’t allow boys over, she testified. They had sex in her bedroom and over the next several weeks whenever her mother went to bed, she would sneak him in almost daily and they’d have unprotected sex.
It got to the point where Valdez would hide out in her bedroom all day while she was at school and her mother was at work, she said.
He called her beautiful, sexy and gorgeous, she said.
Her mother caught him hiding in her closet one day, but they were allowed to continued to date because he had also told her mother and the rest of her family he was 18, she testified.
She continued to sneak him into her bedroom and they began sharing nude photos of each other, she testified.
By the time Thanksgiving rolled around, she said she began to feel manipulated. He got mad at her when she told him she didn’t want to have sex, but she always gave in because she loved him, she said.
There were pregnancy scares, but again, she continued to have unprotected sex because she was in love, she testified.
She broke up with him for a short time, but they got back together because he threatened to commit suicide, she said.
When she found out through friends that Valdez was 24, she confronted him, she said. He got mad at her, but acknowledged it.
They continued seeing each other because she told herself his age didn’t matter, she testified.
Then, she found out he was cheating on her and she finally ended it.
A short time later, the police showed up at her door, having learned of their relationship, she said.
She told forensic interviewers everything, she said.
She also gave detectives access to her social media accounts and videos she took of Valdez playing with her cat in her bedroom and laying in her bed.
Assistant Ector County District Attorney Kortney Williams was allowed to show jurors screenshots of a few Instagram posts depicting pictures of Valdez and the girl and various comments. Defense attorney Phillip Wildman unsuccessfully fought to keep the exhibits out of the trial, arguing Williams had failed to prove the account belonged to his client or that it was his client who actually made the posts.
“OMG, you’re so gorgeous,” read one comment allegedly posted by Valdez.
Below a picture of her on what was purported to be his Instagram account, Valdez alleged wrote, “My love” and followed it up with heart emojis.
Under cross-examination from Wildman, the girl said the only distinctive feature she could recall about Valdez’s genitalia is that he is uncircumcised.
Valdez’s former wife testified that in addition to being uncircumcised, Valdez also has a distinctive mole.
During opening statements, Assistant District Attorney Rikki Earnest told jurors it was actually Brihana Valdez who turned Valdez in upon learning he was having sex with an underage high school student.
Earnest also told jurors she expected Brihana Valdez to be an uncooperative witness.
When it came time to call Brihana Valdez to the stand, she took so long to enter the courtroom, Judge Tryon Lewis called for a short recess.
When Williams asked her key questions, such as if she ever became concerned her estranged husband was dating a high school student or if Valdez had ever told her he often had to sneak inside his girlfriend’s house and hide in her closest, Brihana Valdez had to be given her police statement to refresh her memory.
Brihana Valdez testified she met Valdez in 2013 on the Internet and married him in 2018. They separated in 2019 and he began dating someone else, but she continued to give him rides, including to what turned out to be the girl’s house in West Odessa.
She initially testified she “had no idea” if the Instagram account “JohnOcho820” was her former husband’s account, but then acknowledged she told the police back in 2020 it was.
Wildman reserved his opening statement for a later time.
