Fugitive awaits sentencing for alleged molestation

STAUNTON — Nobody caught Jose Orlando Romero-Feliciano easily.

Tracking him meant a chase to the south of the country, down into the twin cities of Louisiana, next to the bank of the Ouachita River.

Romero-Feliciano, 31, spent five months on the run. But a person can’t stay lost forever and the city of West Monroe, La., washed him out like a sieve, right into the arms of the federal authorities assigned to find him.

The Staunton man appeared before a Staunton Circuit Court judge Tuesday, pleading guilt, finally, to a child-sodomy crime.

Staunton authorities first sought Romero-Feliciano in February on charges he violated his probation and forced an 8-year-old girl to perform oral sex on him. But the man fled the state shortly after, sparking a manhunt that eventually included U.S. Marshals in Harrisonburg and Charlottesville, and the Fugitive Apprehension Strike Force led by the U.S. Marshals Service of Western Louisiana.

Staunton Police Investigator Chad Nestor worked the case from the front stoop of Romero-Feliciano’s Staunton home all the way to the end, when he spent more than 14 hours in a car with the man, delivering him back to Virginia.

Between February and July, Nestor put in hundreds of hours and turned stones across the country, said Staunton Police spokeswoman Officer Lisa Klein.

“Investigator Nestor did one hell of a job on this case, just looking at every single way that you could approach this,” Klein said. “A case is very one step, and another step, and another step – there’s a difference between thinking outside the box and thinking outside the lines. He really worked it.”

When the investigator first knocked on Romero-Feliciano’s Virginia Avenue door, he found the apartment unlocked and the lights turned on. Romero-Feliciano was gone, and he wouldn’t return.

As authorities obtained a warrant and searched his home, the suspect slipped farther and farther away, Klein said. Desperate to flee, Romero-Feliciano enlisted a family friend to drive him to Dulles International Airport in Washington, D.C. As Nestor looked through the suspect’s belongings, Romero-Feliciano jetted across an overcast sky.

Inside the apartment Nestor said he found pink pajamas the victim wore the night of the crime. Forensic testing revealed traces of Romero-Feliciano’s semen in the fabric; the DNA evidence matched the 8-year-old’s story, Klein said.

Without the resources to follow a single man across the country, Nestor enlisted help from the U.S. Marshals Office. With Nestor as the point-man and the marshals’ connections, authorities found Romero-Feliciano living with family in the Seattle-area.

“They did the investigation and tracked him across the country,” Klein said. Sexual abuse of young victims only intensifies the drive to find and convict suspects, she said.

“At that age, we’re gonna go get him wherever he is,” Klein added.

Authorities set up surveillance, Nestor said, but Romero-Feliciano shook officers when he boarded a bus for Louisiana.

Traces of the man ran cold.

Nestor said he searched daily for the man, checking databases, financial transactions and online social-networking Web sites. Whispers of a man like Romero-Feliciano in Louisiana teased the detective and the U.S. Marshals Office confirmed suspicions when they arrested a man living under an assumed name.

Deputies with the Ouachita Parish Sheriff’s Office obtained a warrant to arrest Romero-Feliciano July 21. A stifling humidity blanketed the dodgy West Monroe neighborhood Romero-Feliciano chose for a hiding place, but authorities took him down anyway. They transported him to Ouachita Correctional Center where he sat waiting for Nestor. 

When officers transport suspects they travel in pairs, Nestor said. But even with three men in the car, the 14-hour journey remained mostly silent. Romero-Feliciano never asked to use the bathroom, never stretched his legs.

Instead, he stared at his feet.

For months Nestor learned about Romero-Feliciano through pictures and friends. But for all the hours searching and driving, Nestor said they shared only one brief conversation. He still has trouble understanding his personality, he said.

“For someone to do something like that, I couldn’t tell you what they’re like,” Nestor said.

Romero-Feliciano stared at his feet in circuit court Tuesday, too. His eyes closed when Assistant Commonwealth’s Attorney Anne Reed narrated the last five months of his life.

Reed said he faces between six and 20 years in prison. Prosecutors plan to push for a “substantial” amount of jail time, she said.

Nestor spoke by phone from Pennsylvania on Tuesday, where he was transporting another suspected criminal, this time from New York.

“I love this,” he said. “I can’t say I love the crime, but I like the challenge. You’ve got all these pieces and you’re trying to put the puzzle back together.”