(DailyVantage.com) – Police in Virginia have arrested a 43-year-old illegal immigrant from Mexico over multiple charges, including the kidnapping and sexual assault of a 15-year-old girl.
Reports indicate that the victim was also a migrant, but is in the country by herself, without her parents. She was released by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services into the custody of a sponsor, who was revealed to be the girlfriend of the suspect, identified as Isauro Garcia Cruz.
Police said that the victim, who hails from Honduras, was initially placed in her sponsor’s home in the City of Middletown in Ohio. The sponsor was apparently found out to be an illegal immigrant as well.
According to Sheriff Richard Jones of the Butler County Sherriff’s Office, law enforcement first became aware of the situation after receiving a tip about Cruz’s illicit relationship with the minor. Police said that Cruz and victim fled Ohio when the suspect learned of the investigation.
When police and federal agents tracked down the victim’s whereabouts, they found the girl, along with Cruz, at a hotel in Virginia, hundreds of miles from her sponsor’s home. Authorities also say that the victim initially lived with her sponsor, but was later moved to a separate apartment, where the suspect would “hang out” with her and conduct his abuse.
Investigators are also looking into the possibility that Cruz is part of a human trafficking operation. Cruz was arrested on multiple charges, which include third-degree felony unlawful illicit conduct with a minor, fourth-degree felony gross sexual imposition, first-degree felony kidnapping, as well as first-degree misdemeanor interference with custody. The suspect also has pending warrants for past crimes, which include aggravated battery of a minor.
The victim, on the other hand, has been put in the care of another family.
Copyright 2024, DailyVantage.com
