The Palm Beach County State Attorney’s Office today announced that prosecutors are seeking the death penalty against two men indicted for the repeated sexual abuse of a child that began when she was only 6 years old.

A Palm Beach County grand jury indicted Josue D. Mendez Sales and Pablo N. Cobon Mendez in August 2025 on multiple counts of sexual battery on a child under 12. The indictments followed an investigation by the West Palm Beach Police Department, which began after the victim disclosed the abuse to trusted adults.

Both defendants remain held without bond at the Palm Beach County Jail.

• Mendez Sales is charged with two counts of sexual battery on a person less than 12 years of age.
• Cobon Mendez is also charged with two counts of sexual battery on a person less than 12 years of age.

State Attorney Alexcia Cox issued the following statement:

“The crimes committed against this young child are among the most horrific imaginable. The repeated abuse of a defenseless child, by Josue David Mendez Sales and Pablo Neftaly Cobon Mendez, is not only a violation of the law, it is a violation of our deepest human values. In the gravest cases, and when the victims are children, prosecutors have a duty to consider the strongest punishment available; in this case, that is the death penalty. This is about justice, accountability, and protecting the innocent.

The law must send a clear and unmistakable message: those who prey on children will face the harshest consequences possible. We must pursue the most severe penalty allowed by law to protect children and make it clear that crimes of this magnitude will never be tolerated. Justice demands that we use every tool at our disposal to hold these offenders fully accountable.”