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May 28, 5:41 AM EDT

Fla. rape suspect in U.S. illegally

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) -- A teenager charged with raping an 8-year-old girl and leaving her for dead at an abandoned landfill is in the United States illegally - status that escaped notice despite three arrests, officials said.

Milagro Cunningham became illegal after arriving from the Bahamas on a visitor's visa in 2003 and overstaying the short-term limit, Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokesman Manny Van Pelt said.

Cunningham, 17, had three burglary arrests last year but escaped the notice of immigration authorities because his cases were handled in the juvenile justice system, said Art Bullock, Border Patrol chief in West Palm Beach.

"If he had been booked into the main jail, he would have been checked," Bullock said.

Cunningham's juvenile court records are sealed, but acquaintances said he was on probation when he was arrested Sunday in the kidnapping and attempted murder of the girl, who spent about seven hours buried under debris in a trash bin. Searchers discovered her when they saw part of a foot and hand.

Cunningham was indicted as an adult Thursday. He was in custody without bail and could get life in prison if convicted.

Investigators believe he snatched the girl from her godmother's apartment, where he had been sleeping on the couch after leaving the nearby home of his aunt and uncle about four months ago.