Investigative paperwork reviewed by Navy.com are giving extra perception into the timeline and occasions that led to a 14-year-old lady, who was lacking for weeks, being found within the barracks room of a junior Marine at a California base.
Whereas the younger lady on the coronary heart of this story went lacking in early June, federal investigators concluded that she had been at Camp Pendleton for less than about 24 hours and appeared to have met the Marine whose barracks room she would come to remain in only a day prior.
The paperwork additionally present that investigators have begun to look into the claims that the lady was a sufferer of human trafficking. Thus far, investigators are reporting that the Naval Prison Investigative Service (NCIS), which is being aided by a number of different businesses, has been unable to search out any corroborating proof to again up these claims.
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The paperwork seen by Navy.com say that when brokers first interviewed the Marine and the sufferer, each stated they met on the relationship app “Tinder” the place the lady used a special title and claimed to be 22. The Marine instructed investigators the connection occurred on June 26 — a day earlier than he would assist drive her onto Camp Pendleton — and admitted to having had sexual contact with the lady in his barracks room.
The investigative paperwork additionally word that the Marine allowed brokers to take all the information from his mobile phone, together with later messages by which the sufferer admitted to mendacity to the Marine about her age.
Capt. Charles Palmer, a spokesman for the first Marine Logistics Group, confirmed to Navy.com {that a} Marine with Fight Logistics Battalion 5, 1st Marine Logistics Group, was taken into custody for questioning by NCIS on June 28.
“The Marine was questioned by NCIS and launched to his command pending additional investigation,” Palmer stated, including that the Marine was not saved in a single day. Jeff Houston, a spokesman for NCIS, instructed Navy.com that no fees have been filed thus far and no arrests have been made in reference to this case.
The paperwork reviewed by Navy.com say that the lady was interviewed by brokers once more final week, and that she instructed them she was saved locked up and bought out for intercourse by a pimp she knew solely by a primary title. Brokers say they seemed into the lady’s claims of being a human trafficking sufferer however thus far haven’t discovered proof to assist them.
In a TikTok video posted final week, the lady’s aunt, Casaundra Perez, alleged that her niece had been a sufferer of human trafficking and accused the navy of a cover-up.
Perez additionally faulted base safety for permitting her niece on base unquestioned.
“Our household is apprehensive about retaliation from the navy and the person that has trafficked my niece,” Perez stated within the video.
The paperwork define a timeline when the lady was on the bottom.
On June 27, the Marine; a good friend of his, who’s one other service member; and the younger feminine sufferer drove via a safety checkpoint for Camp Pendleton. The paperwork say personnel on the gate requested for the identification of the Marine and his good friend, however not the lady.
As soon as on base, the Marine and the feminine sufferer went to his barracks room, the place they hung out with the Marine’s roommate. On the morning of June 28, the pair of Marines left the sufferer within the barracks room, however ultimately the roommate returned and kicked the lady out of the room. She used one other service member’s mobile phone to get the Marine to let her again into the barracks room.
Nevertheless, two Navy corpsmen discovered the lady wandering the barracks constructing.
Entries from a barracks responsibility logbook posted to social media within the days after the arrest present that the lady was found round 9 a.m., and he or she was eliminated to a separate location inside half-hour. Brokers from NCIS arrived inside hours, the logbook exhibits.
In line with the San Diego County Sheriff’s Division, the sufferer was final seen by her household on June 9 — greater than two weeks earlier than it seems she encountered the Marine who would ultimately convey her to Camp Pendleton. NBC reported that San Diego legislation enforcement officers stated her household reported her lacking on June 13.
Each the paperwork reviewed by Navy.com and native studies famous that the lady’s household instructed officers that she had a historical past of working away from residence.
Houston stated that the San Diego Sheriff’s Division and the San Diego Human Trafficking Job Pressure are helping the investigation.
— Konstantin Toropin may be reached at konstantin.toropin@navy.com. Observe him on Twitter @ktoropin.
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