Palms Springs Daycare Provider Accused Of Raping Child
INDIO (CBS) — A man running a daycare in his Palm Springs home with his wife is scheduled to be arraigned Friday on suspicion of raping a child.
Jose Manuel Mercado, 37, of Palm Springs, is accused of rape and forced oral copulation of a child. Mercado was arrested Monday, Palm Springs police Officer Rhonda Long said.
Mercado and his wife run a daycare center from their apartment in the Tahquitz Court Apartments, 2890 Tahquitz Canyon Way.
Police will not say if the victim – whose age and gender were withheld – was in Mercado's care when the alleged abuse took place.
Police say families who have used the daycare within the last eight years to check with their children to see if they were molested and to call police if they were.
Mercado was being held in lieu of $1 million at the Larry D. Smith Correctional Facility in Banning.
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