A man is going to prison after he was accused of raping a relative he brought to the U.S. from El Salvador, California officials said.
The 44-year-old Monterey resident brought his female relative to the U.S. when she was 17, according to a news release by the district attorney’s office. McClatchy News is not identifying the suspect to protect the identity of the victim.
In October 2019, the victim was seen running across a lawn with a child, officials said. She told a witness she needed police help, and they went to the station.
The witness acted as her translator, officials said.
She told police that on the night she arrived in the U.S., her relative “violently” raped her, prosecutors said. She said the assaults continued for several years, according to the district attorney’s office.
The victim got pregnant as a result of the assaults, officials said.
She didn’t know anyone “in this country who could help her,” and the man oversaw her phone calls back to El Salvador, officials said.
It wasn’t until the man threatened the child that she got help, officials said.
The man was convicted on charges of forcible rape, forcible rape of a child over 14 years and forcible oral copulation of a child over 14 years, officials said.
The man was sentenced to 40 years in prison and must register as a sex offender for the rest of his life, officials said.
Monterey is about a 115-mile drive south from San Francisco.
If you have experienced sexual assault and need someone to talk to, call the National Sexual Assault Hotline for support at 1-800-656-4673 or visit the hotline’s online chatroom.
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