BEDFORD — A multi-agency prosecution in Lawrence Superior Court 2 has concluded with a 105-year prison sentence for a San Jose, California, man following a four-day jury trial.
On Thursday, August 27, Judge Robert “Bob” Cline sentenced 45-year-old Bernardo Revelez Tapia after a jury convicted him on nine separate felony counts—including two counts of rape, two counts of child molestation, two counts of promotion of child sexual trafficking, two counts of strangulation, and one count of obstruction of justice—along with a repeat sexual offender enhancement.
The investigation began on September 23, 2024, when the Greene County Sheriff’s Office received a missing person report for a 12-year-old girl. Family members informed officers that the child had been communicating via Snapchat with an older man, Tapia, who arranged to pick her up outside her residence.
Investigators soon discovered that the suspect had transported the child across county lines to a motel in Bedford, where she was sexually assaulted.
To locate the perpetrator, law enforcement deployed Flock Safety automated license plate recognition cameras, which identified the vehicle Tapia drove from California into southern Indiana. Three days later, on September 26, 2024, Indiana State Police tracked down Tapia and executed his arrest near Elkhart in northern Indiana.
At the time of his apprehension, Tapia was already a registered sex offender in California. Subsequent forensic analysis of digital devices reviewed by Greene County detectives revealed that Tapia was actively communicating with multiple underage girls across several states.
