A 70-year-old New Rochelle man has spent more than a month behind bars after being charged with first-degree course of sexual conduct against a child, a Class B felony, and he is set to return to court Monday morning. Marcelo Almendarez was arrested on September 8 and has remained in custody ever since, with his case now scheduled for a 9:30 a.m. appearance in New Rochelle City Court on October 19.
Almendarez was arrested by the New Rochelle Police Department and charged under New York Penal Law § 130.75, according to Talk of the Sound. He pleaded not guilty on the day of his arrest. The outlet's reporting indicates he has now been held at the Westchester County Jail for 37 days as of October 15, with his case still awaiting resolution.
The statute defines the charge as involving at least two acts over a period of three months or longer. It applies when the child is younger than 11, or when the accused is 18 or older and the child is younger than 13; at least one act must involve a specified form of sexual contact. These are the law’s thresholds for the offense, not details established in the publicly available case records. New York’s Penal Law sets out those elements.
Bail Figures Reported Inconsistently
Accounts of Almendarez's bail conditions list three alternative options: $150,000 cash, a $250,000 insured bond, or a $500,000 partially secured surety bond.
New York law allows a judge to set bail or commit a defendant to custody for certain qualifying offenses, including felony sex offenses; the cited definition encompasses felonies under Penal Law Article 130. For a qualifying felony, the court may instead release a defendant on recognizance or under non-monetary conditions. The law also calls for an individualized assessment of flight risk and, when bail is authorized, the defendant’s finances and ability to post it without undue hardship. The state’s pretrial securing-order law lays out those options and considerations.
Almendarez is represented by the Legal Aid Society of Westchester County, the same reporting notes. He is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty, and the charge against him remains an allegation that has not been resolved in court.
Key Details Remain Unconfirmed
Much about the case remains unknown. Publicly available court records do not identify the alleged victim, do not specify the child's age, and do not describe the relationship between Almendarez and the child. The records also do not establish when the alleged conduct is said to have occurred or explain the circumstances that led to the arrest.
Those gaps leave significant questions unanswered as the case heads toward Monday's hearing. With Almendarez already having spent more than five weeks in custody, the October 19 court date in New Rochelle City Court stands as the next point at which additional details about the case could emerge.
