“Your hair smells like chocolate.”
Those were Damon Samudio’s alleged final words before he seduced a 15-year-old Boerne girl in his truck, setting off a secret affair between the two during the summer of 2007, according to the victim’s tearful testimony Wednesday in the 186th District Court.
Samudio, 36, a criminal investigator with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement who has been suspended indefinitely, has been charged with 14 counts — down from 21 earlier this week — of sexual assault of a child and indecency with a child, according to court documents.
In opening statements, defense attorneys said the teenager fabricated her story and that the state was trying to twist Samudio’s relationship with her into something improper.
“It was a young teenage girl to a large degree living a fantasy life,” defense attorney Jay Norton said, adding no sexual encounters took place.
Samudio met the girl when he was volunteering at a church in the Boerne area and she was a member of a small youth group he counseled. The girl began spending time with Samudio and his wife to seek advice after breaking up with her boyfriend, according to an arrest affidavit.
When prosecutors called her to the stand Wednesday, she described a normal friendship that went awry after Samudio decided he wanted to divorce his wife and began sending the teen hundreds of text messages and calling her on the phone into the early-morning hours with promises of love and marriage.
“He used to tell me about dreams he would have with me in a grocery store with our baby in the cart,” she said.
By the end of the summer, the girl alleged Samudio sexually assaulted her at her parents’ house and then several more times at his parents’ house on a twin bed with teddy bears.
“I can look back three years ago and realize how deceived and manipulated I was,” she said, holding back tears.