Dad Sells Girl, Calls Cops to Complain He Wasn't Paid
Updated 3:18 PM CST, Mon, Jan 26, 2009
A 36-year-old California man was arrested and booked in the Monterey County jail after allegedly selling his daughter for marriage and then calling police to complain that her buyer had not paid off his debt.
Greenfield, Calif., police said Marcelino de Jesus Martinez, 36, tried to arrange for his 14-year-old daughter to marry Margarito de Jesus Galindo, 18, for $16,000 and 100 cases of beer, along with several cases of meat and other items.
After the girl moved in with Galindo, Martinez called police to complain that he hadn't been paid. Police said he asked for their help getting his daughter back.
Martinez's daughter did return home, but he was arrested and booked on suspicion of bartering her –– "receiving money for causing person to cohabitate."
Galindo, the intended buyer/groom, was booked on suspicion of statutory rape, police said.
Police said the practice of arranged marriage in some cultures is not relevent in the case, and even if it were, California law doesn't go for it when one or both parties have been coerced.
First Published: Jan 12, 2009 3:37 PM CST
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