The trial of a suspect accused of sexually molesting an 8-year-old girl during a three-hour flight from Guatemala City to Atlanta has been abandoned after prosecutors failed to summon the victim to court because she was on vacation in Guatemala.
C. Morales had been indicted on one charge of knowingly engaging in, or attempting to engage in, a sexual act with a child under the age of 12 years old. Morales had pleaded not guilty and the trial was meant to get underway on July 22.
According to an affidavit filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia, Morales had been a passenger on Delta flight DL-1831 on August 27, 2025. Morales had been sitting next to an eight-year-old girl towards the back of the airplane.
The victim told cops that Morales had attempted to distract her by drawing her attention towards her seatback screen. He then allegedly rubbed his hand on the outside of her clothing in her vaginal area, before allegedly putting his hand inside her pants.
The victim escaped Morales by saying she needed to use the bathroom. Once she was out of her seat, she told a flight attendant what had happened, and she was moved to another seat for the rest of the flight, while law enforcement was requested to meet the aircraft on arrival in Atlanta.
Morales was indicted in September 2025, and he pleaded not guilty in October 2025. Earlier this month, a pre-trial conference took place where both sides signalled they were ready for the trial to get underway on July 22.
Following the pre-trial conference, however, prosecutors asked for a two-month delay because they had just found out that the victim was on vacation in Guatemala and would not be back in the United States until after the trial was meant to get underway.
The court didn’t want to delay the trial and instead asked prosecutors to subpoena the victim and pay her travel expenses so she could attend the trial on the date already set.
Later, prosecutors told the court how the victim’s mother thought they would be able to provide evidence over the phone. The government did not, however, make an attempt to subpoena the victim as requested by the court.
“The Government’s failure to subpoena the minor demonstrates a lack of diligence,” wrote U.S. District Judge Victoria Marie Calvert in an order filed on July 16.
“It appears that the Government failed to keep in touch with the minor’s mother so that the minor would be available for trial. Finally, the Government has failed to explain why it could not subpoena the minor and/or make financial arrangements to help the minor return from Guatemala for trial on July 22, 2026.”
On July 17, Judge Calvert ordered that the indictment against Morales be dismissed.
Am I the only one who finds this coincidence of monumental proportions to be a bit unlikely? Sorry, the kid just happened to choose to vacation at the exact time when the trial was commencing seems a stretch. I’m guessing bribery or threats although I suppose it might be that the parents didn’t want to let their brave kid go through a trial to see a pedophile locked away.