http://www.trbimg.com/img-537e1903/turbine/lat-santa-ana-kidnapping-la0017683859-20140521/750/16×9
Prosecutors said the investigation continues into the man accused of kidnapping a 15-year-old Santa Ana girl and holding her captive for 10 years, raping her and forcing her to have his child.
Isidro Garcia, 42, appeared for a court hearing Thursday from jail via a video monitor, wearing a blue vest while standing his attorney. Garcia has been charged with one felony count of forcible rape, three felony counts of lewd acts on a minor, and one felony count of kidnapping to commit a sexual offense.
Garcia’s bail was set at $1 million, with the judge noting that he was under an immigration hold.
If convicted, Garcia faces up to 19 years in prison.
The charges filed by the DA all relate to the period in 2004 when the girl was 15-years-old.
The girl arrived in the country from Mexico when she was 14. After she turned 15 Garcia allegedly raped her and then sexually assaulted her multiple times while at the apartment complex where he lived with her mother, said Farrah Emami, spokeswoman for the District Attorneys office.
The district attorneys office has not filed charges of false imprisonment rated to the years the victim spent with Garcia after the alleged kidnapping but prosecutors are still investigating and more charges could come later, Emami said.
The woman was convinced that her family did not care for her and was abused physically, emotionally and sexually for years, Emami said.
“She felt like she had nowhere to go,” she said.
She contacted her sister of Facebook in April and also reunited with her mother before going to police, Emami said.
For years, authorities allege, he used violence and threats to keep her under his control, forcing her to work beside him and telling her she would be deported if she left.
He also and forced her to marry him, and two years ago she had his child, according to police.
Police say the woman recently found her sister on Facebook and gained the courage to come forward.
cComments
Got something to say? Start the conversation and be the first to comment.
ADD A COMMENT
0
Santa Ana police on Thursday pushed back against public statements from neighbors who said the pair appeared to be a loving couple and that the woman did not appear to be under any duress.
Santa Ana Cpl. Anthony Bertagna said those witnesses were not seeing the whole picture, especially the years when she was a minor.
“People are giving the impression that she was an adult,” he said. “She was a minor in a foreign country. That’s a very important part of this.”
During a brief interview with KABC-TV, the woman said she was too scared to seek help during the last 10 years.
“I was 15. I couldn’t do anything,” she said. “I was very afraid about everything, because I was alone. I [thought] I was alone, but I never was. My family was with me.”
But some people who knew the pair recently said they appeared to be a loving couple and that the woman did not appear to be under any duress.
“I just don’t understand how he could have her like that all these years,” Javier Campos, 28, who lived near their Bell Gardens apartment and said he knew them. “The police station is right around the corner.”
Santa Ana police Cpl. Anthony Bertagna said those who knew the pair in Bell Gardens were not seeing the whole picture, especially the years when she was a minor.
“People are giving the impression that she was an adult,” he said. “She was a minor in a foreign country. That’s a very important part of this.”
Cbcburke9's Blog 