Man Arrested In 14-Yr-Old Marriage Case

Cops Say Calif. Man Arranged Daughter's Marriage In Exchange For Cash, Beer And Meat

(AP)  A California man has been arrested 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 said.

Authorities 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 Sunday. He's scheduled to be arraigned Wednesday in Monterey County Superior Court on felony charges of procuring a child under age 16 for lewd and lascivious acts, statutory rape and cruelty to a child by endangering health, according to the prosecutor.

The prosecutor's office said Martinez did not have an attorney of record yet.

Police also arrested the intended groom, 18-year-old Margarito de Jesus Galindo, on suspicion of statutory rape, but prosecutors have not decided whether to charge him. Police did not return a message Tuesday for information on whether Galindo had an attorney.

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 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, the arrangement violates California law, where the age of consent for marriage is 18, and with parental approval, 16.

"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.

Many Trique immigrants are part of the stream of farm workers who tend California's fruit and vegetable fields, living in communities scattered along the coast and the state's agricultural Central Valley. The often speak only Trique, an indigenous language, and come from villages with cultural traditions that set them apart from other Mexicans.

Service organizations have been working to help them integrate, said Jonathan Fox, a professor of Latin American and Latino Studies at the University of California, Santa Cruz, who has worked extensively with indigenous immigrants.

"This is certainly not the first such case I've heard of," he said of the marriage involving an underage girl.

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, an indigenous immigrant and head of the Greenfield office of the Binational Center for the Development of the Indigenous Communities.

He said arranging marriages and exchanging goods that will contribute to the wedding party are common, but money is not usually part of the transaction. When that does happen, it's not seen well within the community, he said.

"Most people don't agree with it," he said.

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. Because he's an undocumented immigrant, he's under an immigration hold and is not eligible for bail.

[laurieleemoo]

That is the "Third World" mentality for you.

[mdalerwill]

Great! More ILLEGAL ALIEN INVADERS breaking the laws of America. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------Posted by bhappy2-2 at 07:33 PM : Jan 14, 2009

Illegal alien invaders? Oh, sorry. ILLEGAL ALIEN INVADERS! I think I played that game on Atari when I was a kid.

Invaders? This brings to mind Mongol hordes, Visigoths, fierce Norsemen attacking from the sea. If that''s what illegal immigration looks like in your neighborhood, I''m glad I don''t live there. Good luck with that.

[mdalerwill]

But America welcomes everyone and then tries to change our laws to suit these foreigners. Enough is enough. Stop the madness or get out.
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Posted by junglejimy12 at 07:30 AM : Jan 15, 2009

Which laws have been changed to suit foreigners?

[nincomp]

f these people want to live in our country then they need to adhere to our laws. If you went to the Middle East in some countries you cannot even bring your Bible and you cannot talk about Christianity either.

Posted by junglejimy12 at 07:30 AM : Jan 15, 2009
+

Wouldn''t everyone be following the Red Indian traditions then? We can have a powwow about that.

[stupidrules3]

Right, you know good and well that if you thought you could get away with it, you would be in line, cash and meat in hand, to buy your own slave.


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Posted by brianbwb at 12:36 PM : Jan 14, 2009


You forgot to mention the beer. Gotta have beer.

[dumdnc]

WEll, maybe it''s a cultural thing. After all, don''t we have to tolerate this kind of thing. I mean, if it''s his culture than who are we to demand he live by our laws.
Next, sanction for femal circumsion.

[bhappy2-2]

Great! More ILLEGAL ALIEN INVADERS breaking the laws of America. At least these were only hurting other ILLEGAL ALIEN INVADERS, instead of raping, robbing or killing American Citizens.

[mdalerwill]

Posted by IndepTex at 05:58 PM : Jan 14, 2009..

In general, I do not endorse allowing immigrants (legal or otherwise) to follow traditions that actually break US laws, *especially in cases where harm comes to another*. In this case, as the girl was only 14, the argument can be made that the custom harmed her, though others might disagree. In contrast, I would point to the use of peyote by some Native Americans for religious purposes. In that case, I support an exception to the law. Obviously, no other party is involved in that case.

[nobdysfool]

Posted by mdalerwill at 04:09 PM : Jan 14, 2009

Cheers, loved your comment!

[jamster31]

These Native American an Mexicans is the same. This was once their lands, these people even has their own language that is different from the Mexicans. Yes we need to stop some of their Native Customs, but we need to first start showing them, give them their rights that we have, these are the last true Americans that still lives here.


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Posted by beentheir1 at 03:19 PM : Jan 14,

This was never Mexican land. They stole it from the Indians. We stole it back. The only ones that have a legitimate claim on this land is the Indians.