“In February 2024, Carrollton Police Department detectives notified Denton PD that they had identified and arrested a suspect in similar sexual assault cases in their city,” a press release stated. “During the investigation, detectives learned that [Carlton] Tambaoga knew he was infected with HIV at the time of the sexual assaults. Denton PD detectives obtained an arrest warrant on Monday after lab results showed that Tambaoga is the contributor of the DNA profile obtained in the Denton case.”
Tambaogo has been in the Denton County jail for nearly three months while police have asked for any other possible victims to come forward. Upon his second arrest in March, Carrollton police announced that Tambaogo was HIV-positive after reviewing subpoenaed medical records.
In April, the Dallas Observer confirmed that three more alleged Tambaoga victims came forward. As of now, the 25-year-old is being held on a total of more than $2.2 million in bonds, according to jail records.
Jail records also note that one of the six sexual assault or aggravated sexual assault charges against Tambaoga is listed as an aggravated sexual assault of a child in 2023. In March, investigators warned that Tambaoga’s victims could be in Texas or Georgia.
“Often survivors are in a state of trauma, disbelief and confusion immediately following an assault." – Amy Lawrence, The Turning Point
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So far, each of the suspected assaults happened in Texas, so Tambaoga won’t face any charges specifically related to his HIV status. However, the illness factors into his being charged with aggravated assault instead of standard assault, according to Carrollton police.
When we spoke in April to Amy Lawrence, senior director of programs for The Turning Point, a rape crisis center in Plano, she explained that it is highly common for rapes to go unreported in the beginning.
“Often survivors are in a state of trauma, disbelief and confusion immediately following an assault,” Lawrence told the Observer. “There are many myths and stereotypes in society about what sexual assault looks like, and some survivors may even question their own experience, particularly in cases where the offender was not a stranger. Others may fear the reaction of others, whether in law enforcement or among their family or friends.”
According to the National Sexual Violence Resource Center, an overwhelming majority of rapes go unreported. In 2018, only 40% of rapes were reported to the police, and in 2017 only 25% were reported. From October 2022 to September 2023, according to Denton County's Sexual Assault Response Team biennial report, 273 sexual assaults were reported in the county.
The Denton Police Department is encouraging anyone with information about Tambaoga, including any unreported assaults in Denton, to contact Detective Marqui Curtis at (940) 349-7727.
