Bluffton man charged after allegedly sexually assaulting a 13-year-old girl, report says
A Bluffton man faces a criminal sexual conduct with a minor charge after he allegedly sexually assaulted a 13-year-old girl in June inside a private home, a Bluffton Police Department report said.
Maximilano Lezama Canales, 33, was booked into the Beaufort County Detention Center on Wednesday and remained incarcerated Thursday morning, according to the jail log.
Officers responded to a home in The Farm at Buckwalter on June 17 after a 13-year-old girl called saying Canales attempted to rape her the night before, the report said.
The girl said she and Canales were in her room when he “began to try to touch her private area” and tried to take off her shorts and underwear, the report said. She then ran to a bathroom and he went downstairs.
Canales told officers “he did not touch (her) inappropriately, but his hand accidentally touched her,” the report said.
Criminal sexual conduct with a minor between ages 11 and 14 is punishable by up to 20 years imprisonment, according to S.C. law.
