A convicted child sex predator who is in the country illegally was apparently released by federal authorities last year and is now wanted for groping a 7-year-old girl on her way home from school in Texas, according to reports.
The disturbing incident unfolded in Houston on January 27, but new details about the case just came to light this week.
The victim was walking on a sidewalk in a residential neighborhood, trailing her sister and a friend, when an adult male who was following them suddenly ran up, molested her, and then fled the scene.
“A man came behind me, and he touched my private parts,” the child told Fox 26.
Footage captured by surveillance cameras in the neighborhood was shared on social media by the Houston Police Department (HPD).
Help detectives ID this suspect wanted for inappropriately grabbing/touching a female, 7, in the 800 block of Omar St. just after 3 p.m. on Monday (Jan. 27).
— Houston Police (@houstonpolice) January 29, 2025
The male was seen on foot on Reagan & Watson Streets nearby.
Tips: Call @CrimeStopHou for reward up to $5K.#hounews pic.twitter.com/mqa6tFSAHy
HPD identified the suspect as 43-year-old Carlos Jose Ayala Morales and announced he has been charged with felony attempted indecency with a child.
However, he is apparently still not in custody at the time of this writing.
Ayala Morales is reportedly an illegal alien from Honduras with multiple convictions for child sex crimes and was suspected in many more.
In 2017, HPD was investigating at least 10 “sexual assaults of school-aged juvenile females, seven to 15 years of age, as they traveled to and from school.”
“Ayala would come up behind the victims and inappropriately touch them through their clothing.”
“In one incident, Ayala attempted to abduct one of the victims, a 7 year-old female, as she walked home from school with her 9-year-old brother,” HPD explained in a statement at the time.
In 2018, he was reportedly convicted of indecency with a child by exposure, three counts of indecency with a child, evading arrest, detention with a vehicle, and burglary of a building.
After serving time, he was transferred to custody of Immigration and Customs Enforcement in February of 2024.
For reasons that remain unclear, Ayala Morales appears to have been released back into the interior.
UPDATE: Carlos Ayala Morales should have been in prison when he's accused of groping a young #Houston girl last week – he was let out early. TDCJ says they received Ayala Oct. 30, 2018, to serve 7 years for indecency with a child charges. He was released to ICE on Feb 22, 2024. pic.twitter.com/WG4hurRAoD
— Abigail Dye (@AbigailDyeNews) February 11, 2025
HPD is offering a $5,000 reward for information leading to his arrest.