An illegal immigrant who was released into the U.S. after crossing the border has been arrested in Florida and charged with sexually assaulting an 11-year-old girl.
The suspect, 20-year-old Marvin Perez Lopez from Guatemala, is accused of abducting the girl from outside her home in Lake Worth and attacking her in his vehicle Thursday night.
According to the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office, the incident came to light when the girl’s mother, searching for her daughter, witnessed the assault taking place in a van parked outside their apartment building.
The mother’s immediate response was to bang on the vehicle’s windows and call for help, which prompted the attacker to flee. Reports from CBS12 indicate that Mr. Lopez lived in the same apartment complex as the victim.
Following a swift investigation, law enforcement officials located Mr. Lopez attempting to escape from his residence through a rear window. After a short pursuit, he was apprehended on Saturday and now faces multiple charges, including kidnapping with intent to commit sexual assault on a minor, sexual battery on a person under 12 and resisting arrest.
Further investigation revealed that Mr. Lopez crossed the U.S.-Mexico border illegally in early January. After turning himself in to the Border Patrol, he was designated as an undocumented migrant and given a future court date for immigration proceedings in 2027, per the sheriff’s office’s report.
“Here’s a Guatemalan who came into the country illegally, was stopped by the border people, released and made his way to South Florida. And now he commits a crime where he held an 11-year-old girl against her will and sexually assaulted her,” Sheriff Ric Bradshaw said, according to the New York Post.
“We grabbed him. He’s confessed to the crime. So he’s gonna get tried for a capital crime before he even remotely thinks he’s gonna get deported. He’s gonna do the time here first,” the sheriff added. “The federal government is victimizing the people who live in this country by letting these people in here.”
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