San Diego County, CA– A US Marine has been taken into custody after a missing 14-year-old girl was discovered in the barracks of a military base.
The teen was discovered by military police on June 28th, at the Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton more than two weeks after she was reported missing.
According to the report, the girl’s grandmother told police that the teen ran away from their Spring Valley home on June 9th, but she did not contact them until four days later because this was not the first time the teen had run away.
The girl’s grandmother explained that the teen, who has learning disabilities, would run away but “always returned home quickly.”
The teen’s aunt posted on Tiktok that she believes her niece was sold to the marine for sex and does not understand how the base security allowed the marine to bring her underaged niece onto the base.
“The security looked her in the face and allowed this man to bring a minor onto base,” Casaundra Perez, the teen’s aunt, said. “Due to her age, she could not have given this consent.'”
While not much has been publicly released about the case, it was confirmed that a sex trafficking task force is one of the forces investigating the case.
The identity of the marine has also not been released, but the 1st Marine Logistics Group reported that the marine is from the Combat Logistics Battalion 5.
The marine remains in the custody of his command but has not been officially charged.