A man has been arrested in California for arranging for his 14-year-old daughter to marry a neighbor in exchange for $16,000, 100 cases of beer and several cases of meat.
Police in Greenfield, a farming community on California's central coast, said they learned of the deal after Marcelino de Jesus Martinez, 36, asked them for help getting back his daughter after payment wasn't made.
Martinez was arrested on Sunday. He faces felony charges of procuring a child under age 16 for lewd and lascivious acts, statutory rape and cruelty to a child by endangering health.
Police also arrested the intended groom, 18-year-old Margarito de Jesus Galindo, on suspicion of statutory rape, but prosecutors have not yet decided whether to charge him.
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.
He hesitated to say that the girl was being sold into marriage, as the money was intended as a dowry and the beer and meat were for the wedding.
But he added that the arrangement violates California law, where the age of consent for marriage is 18, or 16 with parental approval.
'This is not a traditional trafficking case because there is no force or coercion in this,' Grebmeier said. 'We're aware of the cultural issues here, but state law trumps cultural sensitivity.'
Grebmeier is planning to meet with leaders in the Trique community to talk about how some cultural practices might conflict with California law.
'Initially, when everyone was talking to us, we learned a lot because they had no realization that it's against the law - an arranged marriage for money with a minor,' Grebmeier said.
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, head of the Greenfield office of the Binational Center for the Development of the Indigenous Communities.
He added that the community did not normally approve of money being offered as a part of the marriage deal.
Police learned of the deal in mid-December, when Martinez reported his daughter as a runaway.
Further investigation found the girl had not fled but moved in with Galindo as part of the marriage arrangement. Grebmeier said the girl was a willing party to the deal.
Martinez would face at least a year in prison if convicted.
Sem comentários:
Enviar um comentário