Thread: CA: Illegal trades daughter for beer, meat..gets stiffed

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http://www.alipac.us/article-3896--0-0.html

Lawyer: Teen 'bride' was abducted in Greenfield
There was no deal for marriage, attorney for girl's father says
BY JACK FOLEY • The Salinas Californian • January 23, 2009

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Buzz up! A 14-year-old Greenfield girl at the center of statutory rape and other child abuse charges was abducted by force by a neighbor, "sequestered" and subjected to "sinister" things for nearly a month, the lawyer for the girl's father said Thursday.


The girl's father, jailed on suspicion of abetting statutory rape, is innocent, said attorney Miguel Hernandez. His client, Marcelino de Jesus Martinez, never entered into a deal, and never received money, to let his daughter live with the neighbor, 18, as husband and wife, as alleged by police when the father was arrested Dec. 18.

The neighbor, Margarito de Jesus Galindo, lived a few doors down from the Martinez family in a Greenfield apartment complex.

Greenfield Police Chief Joe Grebmeier this week said he stands by his investigation, that the girl was not abducted, that she was a willing participant and a victim of statutory rape.

The Monterey County District Attorney agrees a crime was committed.

Martinez, 36, is in county jail in Salinas and on an immigration hold. He is due in Superior Court Jan. 30 for a preliminary hearing on charges brought by the district attorney on suspicion of procuring a child for lewd and lascivious acts, aiding and abetting statutory rape and child endangerment.

Hernandez in an interview Thursday said it was a "botched ... absolutely backward" investigation, hampered by language barriers, that led to his client's arrest on Dec. 18 when he tried to report his daughter missing and sought help from the Greenfield police.

Hernandez said he spoke with the victim "at length," and has urged the District Attorney's Office to do the same rather than relying on the police investigation.

Prosecuting Deputy District Attorney Cristina Johnston declined comment, citing the on-going investigation.

Galindo was cited and released by Greenfield police Jan. 2 on suspicion of misdemeanor statutory rape. He is due in Superior Court in King City on Feb. 25.

Under California law, because Galindo is more than three years older than the girl, the district attorney has the option of changing the misdemeanor to a felony.

According to Hernandez, Galindo and his mother entered the girl's apartment while her parents were out and, in the presence of a witness, Galindo "grabbed" the victim and took her with him. Hernandez did not identify the witness.

"They just took a 14-year-old little girl," he said, adding, "It's a lot more sinister in terms of the things that happened to her, but my (client) is innocent."

Greenfield police said Galindo took the girl to Soledad where they lived together and engaged in sexual relations for a week before returning to Greenfield.

Hernandez believes the two were together for nearly a month, and said the girl was "sequestered," - kept hidden away.

He said the Greenfield investigation was marred in part, but unintentionally, by language problems because the principals are part the Triqui indigenous community from Oaxaca, Mexico, and speak their own language, while police investigators spoke Spanish.

The case has drawn international attention - most focused on the initial allegation by police that this was a case of "human trafficking" and Martinez had "sold" his daughter's hand in marriage for $16,000 and hundreds of cases of Mexican beer and soda, Gatorade and meat.

Some of those allegations, contained in a press release issued Jan. 12 by Greenfield police, were later retracted by Grebmeier.

Grebmeier said last week he misinterpreted what he now believes was a dowry and marriage agreement between Galindo and Martinez, and that such agreements are normal and common in the Triqui culture in Mexico.

Grebmeier said he would not have used the terms "human trafficking" or claimed Martinez had agreed to "sell" his daughter for marriage if he had been more aware of the Triqui marriage traditions.

Traditional Triqui marriages are arranged by the families, forbid marriage between cousins and second cousins, include dowries that can involve cash or food and beverage items - for the celebration - and typically involve unions between girls in their early to mid-teens and adult males, according to experts.
Contact Jack Foley at jfoley@TheCalifornian.com
http://www.thecalifornian.com/article/2 ... /901230306

Grebmeier said he would not have used the terms "human trafficking" or claimed Martinez had agreed to "sell" his daughter for marriage if he had been more aware of the Triqui marriage traditions.

Traditional Triqui marriages are arranged by the families, forbid marriage between cousins and second cousins, include dowries that can involve cash or food and beverage items - for the celebration - and typically involve unions between girls in their early to mid-teens and adult males, according to experts.

This is America, and in America it is ILLEGAL to sell a child. Some Mormons believe in polygamy - it's their "marriage tradition" and is also illegal. Muslims stone adulterous women, it's STILL illegal in the US!

I don't give a rat's patoot about triqui customs, they're in the US now and must abide by OUR laws. Don't like it? You have the "right" to leave!

Put both of them in jail and deport them when their time's up! Enough with this BS already!

I guess I can certainly understand this one. After all she is 2 years past 12 and almost an old maid now. I guess he was worried about getting his daughter out of the house before she just got too old. Shesh! The mentality of this uneducated, barbaric culture is just too much. Just another reason why amnesty is a bad idea.

Wednesday, April 08, 2009
California Mexican immigrant sells daughter for $16,000, beer and meat

SALINAS, Calif. (AP) — A California man accused of selling his 14-year-old daughter into marriage for $16,000, beer and meat has pleaded no contest to felony child endangerment.

Marcelino de Jesus Martinez [obviously a good Catholic and a devout follower of Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe] had pleaded not guilty in February to procuring a child for lewd acts, aiding and abetting statutory rape and child endangerment. If convicted of those charges he faced 10 years in prison.

Monday's plea on the endangerment charge means the 36-year-old man will be sentenced May 7 to up to a year in jail followed by deportation.

Prosecutors say Martinez and the family of Margarito de Jesus Galindo negotiated a marriage and dowry contract. Galindo and the girl allegedly lived together for week.

Martinez went to police to get his daughter back because payment wasn't made.

And what do you know... Apparently, it's a cultural thing and is "not uncommon":

Martinez is a member of an indigenous Mexican Trique community. Greenfield police Chief Joe Grebmeier said the case highlights an issue confronting local authorities in that arranged marriages with girls as young as 12 are not uncommon among the Trique.

Members of the indigenous community protested the news reports and public discussion of the case, saying they were painted in a very negative light.

"No one put a 'for sale' sign on this girl, and that's how it sounds," said Rufino Dominguez, an indigenous immigrant and head of the Greenfield office of the Binational Center for the Development of the Indigenous Communities.

http://eye-on-the-world.blogspot.com/20 ... sells.html