Man jailed for molesting 12-year-old as she walked to Miami Gardens school: cops

A 12-year-old girl was walking to school on Monday morning when a man pulled up next to her in a truck and molested her, according to the Miami Gardens Police Department.

The girl was on the sidewalk along Northwest 37th Avenue and 188th Street going to Carol City Middle School when Carlos Jean, 37, parked his white truck on the swale and walked toward the girl, according to his arrest affidavit.

Jean told the girl he wanted to “trick her out” and “spoil her,” detectives wrote in his arrest affidavit. He also told her she was beautiful and asked if she had ever received oral sex, police say.

He asked the girl if she had a boyfriend and how old she was, when the girl said she was 12 he asked when would she turn 13, police say.

Jean began insisting on giving the girl his phone number, out of fear, the girl handed him a pen and he wrote the number on her arm. He then molested her, police say.

“The victim jumped back after the offender touched her, and she continued to walk Southbound on NW 37th Avenue and entered the school,” police wrote in Jean’s arrest affidavit.

Jean walked back to his truck and kept looking at the girl, the report said.

Detectives say school cameras confirm the allegations.

On Tuesday, the girl identified Jean in a photo lineup. Jean was found and arrested near the school and later admitted to writing his phone number of the girl’s arm but denied touching her inappropriately.

Jean is charged with lewd and lascivious molestation on a child 12-16 years old and battery. Court records show Jean is jailed at the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center as of Wednesday on a $16,000 bond. If he posts bond, he is to be placed on house arrest and has a stay-away order that covers the girl and the area around the school.

The Miami Gardens Police Department says there may be additional victims.

“We have been advised that two other juvenile females may have been approached by the same subject, and preliminary information indicates he may have a history of similar behavior,” the department said in a Wednesday news release.

Anyone with information about Jean is urged to contact Miami Gardens Police Det. Jocelyn Herrera at 305-474-1424 or jocelyn.herrera@mgpdfl.org.