A Lake Worth Beach man was arrested Saturday and charged with sexually assaulting an 11-year-old girl.
Twenty-year-old Marvin Perez Lopez is charged with kidnapping and sexual assault of a minor.
“He held an 11-year-old girl against her will, sexually assaulted her,” said Palm Beach County Sheriff Ric Bradshaw. “That’s a capital crime.”
According to the probable cause affidavit filed with the county clerk’s office, the assault happened last Thursday near Perez Lopez’s home on South K Street in Lake Worth Beach.
The affidavit said the girl’s mother noticed her daughter was missing and realized she might be in Perez Lopez’s van.
“She banged on the van and asked what they were doing. The male ran out of the van and away,” the affidavit reads.
The affidavit said detectives interviewed the victim, who told them Perez Lopez forced her.
“He grabbed her hand and said, ‘Get into the van.’ He started touching her, and she did not like it,” the affidavit reads.
The affidavit said Perez Lopez later that night went to the girl’s mother to apologize and ask for forgiveness.
She instead called police.
The sheriff’s office said Perez Lopez is from Guatemala and crossed the border from Mexico in January.
They said he surrendered to Border Patrol, was given a court date in 2027 and was released.
“He’s going to get tried for a capital crime before he even remotely thinks he’s going to get deported,” Bradshaw said. “He’s going to do the time here first.”
Perez Lopez is currently being held without bond in the Palm Beach County jail.
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Source: Wpbf
