Suspect of the death of 21 year old Joel Sarmiento and his 20-year old wife Yaniris Sanchez, Meregildo Diaz Mejia was sent to Najayo prison after a very long, 15 hour, session that included a four-hour period of deliberation by the judge handling the case. Judge William Encarnacion ordered preventive custody for the deacon that had worked at the Hainamosa Children’s Center.
The judge said that there was sufficient evidence in the case to merit remanding the prisoner to Najayo. The prosecutors proved that the deacon had had a long series of telephone conversations with one of the deceased on the same day of the disappearance on 5 February, that the deacon apparently provided economic support for Joel Alexander, and that the tanks where the bodies were found are identical to similar tanks found on the Diaz property in San Juan de la Maguana.
Under the new Penal Code, Diaz Diaz will remain in the Najayo jail until trial. Every three months for a year, the courts will review his case.
The mother of Joel, Antonia Diaz has accused the deacon of the murder. She revealed to the press that her son told his wife that he had witnessed a pedophile relationship of the deacon with a youth in San Juan de la Maguana. Reportedly, the couple used this information to extort Diaz in exchange for their silence. “Some two years ago, he took my son to San Juan de la Maguana and my son witnessed the priest in a pedophile relationship with a youth and made the mistake of telling his wife who began to call the priest and threaten him; it looks like he felt pressured and decided to kill them,” she revealed.
The bodies of the couple were found in two 55-gallon tanks in Hatillo.
Meregildo Diaz Mejia’s lawyers are former judge Juan Miguel Castillo Pantaleon and former attorney general Abel Rodriguez del Orbe. Rodriguez del Orbe told Hoy newspaper that the investigators are covering up for someone, because in the report on the telephone call there are numbers blacked out of calls made by Joel. He said that between 5-7 February, Joel made 52 calls to the deacon, who was at the time in Constanza and therefore the calls did not go through. He added that on 7 February, Joel tried on 29 times to reach the deacon by phone, but did not succeed.