Florencia Morales
A former childcare worker at the now-closed Chattanooga migrant facility in Highland Park had her case bound over to the grand jury after the victim testified that she kissed him while he was 17 and she was 21.
Florencia Morales is charged with sexual contact with a minor by an authority figure for her actions in 2021. General Sessions Court Judge Alex McVeigh weighed testimony from both prosecutor Andrew Coyle and defense attorney Mike Little before coming to a decision.
This is a misdemeanor, and the charge was downgraded from a sexual battery of a minor by an authority figure, which is a felony.
The victim, who is now 18, was the state’s first witness. He said the facility housed around 200 other young migrants and that the people in charge of Casa de la Sidney did not allow them to leave. He told Judge McVeigh that he came to the United States with documentation, and that after being in Texas for a few days, he was flown to Chattanooga.
“The day before I left, she kissed me, and the next day she kissed me again and I was surprised,” the victim witness said through a translator. “I didn’t understand why she did it. The kiss was short and she put her hands around my waist.”
The victim testified that after he left the facility to live in Alabama, Morales reached out two months later via Instagram. The victim said Ms. Morales drove to Alabama and that the two later had sexual relations. Defense attorney Mike Little objected to questions about what happened after he left the facility.
“What happened in Alabama has nothing to do with this case,” attorney Little argued, stating that the charge of sexual contact by an authority figure only pertained to what happened while in the migrant center.
Prosecutor Coyle rebutted by stating that the intent of the kisses at the migrant center were to arouse or lead to sex, which is what occurred months later in Alabama. He said “It’s about intent.”
The Chattanooga Police Department investigator with SVU said she interviewed employees, the children, and Morales during her investigation. She said Ms. Morales was not truthful when first spoken to.
“She denied anything happening, but it changed after we informed her of a statement made (by one of the children),” the investigator said about what Ms. Morales told her when she interviewed Morales in Harris County Texas. “She admitted she kissed the victim in his room. She said he was her boyfriend, and she said she had driven down to have sex with him.”
Judge McVeigh found probable cause that this act occurred and bound the case over to the grand jury. Ms. Morales has one other sexual battery by an authority charge that still needs to be addressed, but the witness was not present in the courtroom. Prosecutor Coyle said it was his fault the witness was not there. Judge McVeigh set the case over to March 22.
Two other former workers at the facility, Rebeka Perez and Randi Duarte, are charged with similar acts and will also appear in court on that date.