Charges against a California man accused of abducting and raping a 15-year-old girl stem from brutal crimes committed a decade ago when she was first snatched, prosecutors said on Friday in response to remarks by neighbors that the woman showed no signs of distress, The Associated Press.
Isidro Garcia, 41, was charged with kidnapping, rape and lewd acts upon a child and a judge on Thursday ordered him held on bail of $1 million, in connection with crimes Orange County prosecutors say he committed against the woman when she was a minor, according to the AP.
Since Garcia's arrest, neighbors who lived near the couple in the Southern California community of Bell Gardens told local media they were shocked by the allegations and said the woman never appeared to be in distress, the AP reported.
The woman herself spoke to Los Angeles television station KABC on Wednesday, and mentioned that neighbors thought Garcia was good to her, according to the AP.
Now 25, the woman told detectives she endured a decade of physical and sexual abuse by Isidro, was forced into marriage in 2007 and later bore his child, the AP reported. She contacted authorities this week after reaching out to her sister on Facebook, police said.
"We're talking about the kidnapping of a 15-year-old child who was taken from her mother, taken from her home, taken from her neighborhood and for the past 10 years she has been the victim of ongoing emotional, physical and sexual abuse," said Orange County District Attorney's Office spokeswoman Farrah Emami, according to the AP. "You can imagine what that would do to a person."
"I can't speak to any statements that are being made about her disposition as a 25-year-old woman, but that's not what our case is about. Our case is about crimes against a 15-year-old girl," Emami said, the AP reported.
Garcia, who was a live-in boyfriend of the girl's mother when she went missing, is accused of abducting the then 15-year-old from suburban Santa Ana in 2004, where they had lived at the time, according to the AP.
Garcia's lawyer told reporters on Thursday that the teen went with him willingly and was treated "like a queen," suggesting her accusations were prompted by marital problems, the AP reported.
