Marion County man sentenced to 25 years for sexually abusing 3 girls
Editor’s note: This article describes child sexual abuse.
A local man was sentenced Monday to serve 25 years in prison after a Marion County jury found him guilty of sexually abusing three girls over a period of several years.
Keizer police began an investigation into Armando Marquez-Zacarias, 45, in 2022 based on an allegation he had touched a girl he knew, according to a motion filed by prosecutors in the case.
Investigators then learned three other girls had disclosed to Salem police in 2021 that Marquez-Zacarias touched them sexually, the filing said. The victims were between 9 and 13 when the abuse happened.
In interviews at Liberty House, the three victims reported he had repeatedly rubbed and touched their thighs while watching movies, the filing said. One girl said he touched her genitals when she was nine or 10 years old.
The Marion County District Attorney’s Office charged Marquez-Zacarias in 2023 with first-degree sodomy, a class A felony, and three counts of first-degree sexual abuse. A jury convicted him of all four counts on Sept. 18.
Marion County Circuit Court Judge Natasha Zimmerman sentenced Marquez-Zacarias to 25 years on the sodomy charge. That’s a mandatory minimum sentence under a 2006 Oregon law for certain sex crimes where the victim is under age 12 and the perpetrator is an adult.
He was also sentenced to over six years in prison for each of the three sexual abuse charges. Those sentences will be served concurrently.
Marquez-Zacarias will have post-prison supervision for life and be required to register as a sex offender.
He was taken into custody at the Marion County Jail Sept. 18 following the guilty verdict.
Court records list Marquez-Zacarias’ address in Keizer, though prosecutors described him as a Salem resident in a Monday afternoon press release. Chief Deputy District Attorney Brendan Murphy did not immediately respond to an email and phone call Monday to clarify.
Murphy said in a statement, “Child sexual abuse cases are among the most serious and difficult cases that we prosecute; today’s sentence reflects the law’s severity for these crimes and our commitment to protecting children and seeking justice for victims.”
Polk County prosecutors separately charged Marquez-Zacarias in 2024 with stealing multiple cars through a Dallas auto body shop, Kameleon Collision. State business filings list Gloria Nicolas, who shared a Keizer home with Marquez-Zacarias, as the owner of the business, which is currently inactive.
Investigators said in an affidavit they ran the business together.
He pleaded no contest in June to three charges of unauthorized use of a vehicle. As part of a plea deal, he was sentenced to five years probation and prosecutors dismissed theft charges against him.
Contact reporter Rachel Alexander: [email protected] or 503-575-1241.
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Rachel Alexander is Salem Reporter’s managing editor. She joined Salem Reporter when it was founded in 2018 and covers education, economic development and a little bit of everything else. She’s been a journalist in Oregon and Washington for over a decade and is a past president of Oregon's Society of Professional Journalists chapter. Outside of work, you can often find her gardening or with her nose buried in a book.
