Hot Spring County Prosecuting Attorney Teresa Howell posted the following on her Facebook page this week:
"On February 6, 2026, a Hot Spring County jury found 36-year-old Dany Vallecillo-Mendez guilty of Rape, a Class Y Felony. The State’s case was presented by Chief Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Melanie Rock and Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Jared Davis.
The child survivor bravely faced the defendant in the courtroom and testified about the acts of sexual violence committed by the defendant.
Special recognition goes to Detective Susan Turner of the Malvern Police Department and Velvet Ivy of the Hot Spring County Prosecutor’s Office. Detective Turner collaborated with the Cooper-Anthony Mercy Child Advocacy Center in Benton in her investigation of the defendant. Victim/Witness Coordinator Ivy arranged for the child survivor to be comforted and supported, before and after testifying, by Roxy, a certified facility dog with Paws for Justice - Arkansas.
Judge Stephen Shirron presided over the two-day trial and followed the sentence recommendation of the jury. Dany Vallecillo-Mendez was sentenced to 40 years in the Arkansas Department of Corrections without parole eligibility. The defendant’s Hot Spring County sentence will be consecutive to the 30-year sentence he is currently serving from Saline County for sexually assaulting the same child in 2024. The defendant was transported back to the Arkansas Department of Corrections to continue his foreseeable life as ADC Inmate #186585."
The Backstory
The Reckoning dug deeper into this case to look at various court documents.
In an affadavit dated Aug. 28, 2024, Detective Susan Turner with the Malvern Police Department stated that on Aug. 27 she was contacted by a forensic interviewer for the Cooper Anthony Mercy Child Advocacy Center in Benton about the rape of a minor female.
That day, Turner spoke with a Saline County Sheriff's Office Detective who told her that on Aug. 26 Saline County Deputies were dispatched to an address in Benton regarding a rape of a minor female.
The Saline County detective advised that based on "the information the mother provided of what occurred between the minor female and the mother's boyfriend" resulted in the arrest of Dany Jose Vallecillo-Mendez. He was charged with Rape and Endangering the Welfare of a minor 1st Degree.
Turner stated in the crime report that she reviewed the forensic interview of the minor female victim. The minor victim made allegations of rape that occurred in Benton on the night of Aug. 26 and during the time she lived on Texas Street in Malvern.
"The minor victim stated
during the time she lived on Texas Street with her mom and mom's
boyfriend, Dany Vallecillo-
Mendez, there was an occasion where Vallecillo-Mendez came into the living room while the minor victim and her sibling were asleep
were asleep on the couch," Turner's report stated.
"The minor victim stated Vallecillo-Mendez woke her up and told her to go into the bedroom, in which she did," the report stated. "While in the bedroom, as she was lying down on her mom's bed, Vallecillo-Mendez pulled down both his and the minor victim's pants and underwear and put his 'private' (penis) inside her 'private' (vagina). The minor victim stated once this happened he began moving his 'private' inside her and it hurt her stomach."
The minor victim told Vallecillo-Mendez to stop but he would not, according to Turner's report.
"The minor victim advised he stopped when her sibling began to wake up," the report stated. "The minor victim stated he instructed her not to tell anyone and that this made her scared."
The minor gave details of other incidents on Texas Street. These incidents included Vallecillo-Mendez would take her hand and force her to touch his penis.
"The minor victim stated Vallecillo-Mendez would tell her she was touching his 'Dick'," the report stated.
Turner interviewed the minor victim's mother. She told Turner that she left her residence in Benton to pick up her brother.
"The only two people left at the residence was her daughter (minor victim) and Mamgs boyfriend, Dany Jose Vallecillo-Mendez," the report stated.
When the mother returned a few minutes later, she walked into her bedroom. She saw her daughter lying on her bed. She also saw her boyfriend lying on the bed. He rolled over and away from the minor victim when the mother walked into the bedroom.
The mother said she told her daughter to go to bed. She realized her daughter's pants were unzipped. The mother stated "she thought this was odd." A few minutes later she asked her daughter about the unzipped pants. Her daughter told her what happened.
The mother called 911.
Vallecillo-Mendez was arrested and charged by Saline County Sheriff's Office that night.
Court proceedings
An interpreter was assigned by the courts for Vallecillo-Mendez.
In early July 2025, a plea deal was offered. Vallecillo-Mendez refused it, according to a Judge Note. A jury trial was also scheduled for July but was moved to January 29-30, 2026.
At some point, Vallecillo-Mendez was placed in the Arkansas Department of Correction Delta Unit. According to the ADC website, Vallecillo-Mendez earned his GED in November 2025.
In early January of this year, Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Melanie Rock filed a "Motion to Admit conviction under 404(b)".
Her filing stated, "The defendant is charged in the above case with one count of Rape against victim L.M.
for events alleged to have occurred in Hot Spring County, Arkansas after April 2023 but before August of 2024. The defendant has already entered two guilty pleas to the offense of Sexual Assault in the Second degree against the same victim, L.M. in 63CR-24-833 for events which occurred in Saline County, Arkansas in 2024, and he is currently incarcerated."
It continued, "In this case, the alleged acts and circumstances are substantially identical, and the victim is the same child in both cases. The relationship between the child victim and the defendant is a
familial and intimate one as the defendant dated the victim’s mother and lived in the home with
her. Accordingly, the defendant’s conviction for Sexual Assault, Second Degree should be
deemed admissible upon sufficient testimony by investigators and / or prosecutors as to the circumstances of the Saline County case which will allow the court to evaluate the conviction’s admissibility under the pedophile exception of rule 404b."
However, the case continued toward a jury trial. The ice storm at the end of January moved the trial to Feb. 5-6.
In that trial, the jury found Vallecillo-Mendez guilty as Howell's post stated.
Vallecillo-Mendez was returned to the Arkansas Department of Correction Delta Unit in Dermott where he is listed as minimum risk.
