Judge allows molester to live with girl

DEMING, N.M. (KRQE) - A judge allowed a 28-year-old man on probation for failing to register as a sex offender to live with his 4-year-old cousin, and now the man is accused of raping the girl before the judge gave the OK for him to live there.

Jeffery Biddle, 28, is charged with four counts of rape. Capt. Arturo Baeza of the Luna County Sheriff's Department said Biddle admitted to raping the girl on four different occasions between 2008 and 2009.

Investigators said he told them he was sorry and wants to apologize to the girl when she gets older.

In 2004, Biddle was sentenced to a year and a half in prison for molesting a 3-year-old boy. He was supposed to register as a sex offender when he was released, but never did. The prosecutor in that case was Daniel Viramontes.

In October, Viramontes, now a judge at Luna County District Court, sentenced Biddle for probation for failing to register, then gave him permission to live at his uncle's house where the girl lives.

He told News 13 he allowed Biddle to live there only because family members promised to keep him away from children living at the house.