Boca immigrant charged with repeatedly raping 14-year-old

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Boca immigrant charged with repeatedly raping 14-year-old
‘A heinous, stomach-churning crime,’ sheriff’s spokesman says

Published Tuesday, May 24, 2005 1:00 am
by Sean Salai

A possible illegal alien living in Boca Raton has been charged with repeatedly raping the 14-year old daughter of a woman he helped emigrate from Costa Rica five years ago, the Broward Sheriff’s Office said Monday.
BSO spokesman Hugh Graf said detectives arrested Marvin Leon, a Costa Rican national living in a Boca apartment complex at 1625 Northwest 13th St. on Sunday at his Deerfield Beach carpenter’s shop within hours of interviewing the girl and her mother. Leon, 51, gave deputies a full confession to molesting and raping the girl between the middle of August 2004 and last Saturday, according to police.
“We don’t know if any of these people are in the country legally,� Graf said. “Right now, our main concern is keeping the girl safe from this monster.�
Leon reportedly befriended the victim’s mother when they came to the United States together in 2000. Months later, he helped the woman bring her daughter, then 10, to Florida as well. The woman and her daughter live in Lighthouse Point.
Graf said the woman was aware that Leon had started molesting her daughter last August, but did not know he was raping the girl until she called Lighthouse Point authorities last Saturday.
The mother said she remained silent for several months because Leon had threatened to kill her family, and also because she distrusted the American justice system, according to police.
Graf would not say whether fear of deportation was the main factor that kept the woman from calling police. Citing state policy, he also would not disclose the social security numbers of anyone involved.
Most of the sexual assaults took place in Broward County. Although Leon started out by molesting the girl, police said he was soon taking her to hotels and to his carpentry shop to have sex with her.
Other assaults occurred in the Orlando area, where Leon took the girl on at least one occasion, according to police.
“This man was abusing, molesting and assaulting this little girl over the course of a year,� Graf said. “It’s a horribly nasty situation. It’s a heinous, stomach-churning crime.�
Leon is being held on $180,000 bond and is charged with 18 separate sex crimes against a minor. He could spend the rest of his life in prison if convicted on all charges.
Additional charges may still be pending, police said.
If any local residents have information on Leon, they are urged to call the BSO sex crimes unit at 954-321-4240.