Illegal alien allegedly kidnaps 11-year-old Florida girl, rapes her in van

An illegal immigrant in Florida is being held without bond after he allegedly grabbed an 11-year-old girl by the hand, dragged her into a van, and sexually assaulted her.

Around 9 p.m. last Thursday, 20-year-old Marvin Perez Lopez, a Guatemalan national, was standing near a van parked outside his apartment in Lake Worth Beach, Florida, just a few miles south of West Palm Beach. He then spotted an 11-year-old girl who likewise lived in the apartment complex.

"I asked Marvin what would he do if she got pregnant."

Lopez allegedly grabbed the girl by the hand and ordered her to "get into the van," an affidavit claimed. He then allegedly began touching the girl in a way that made her uncomfortable. At one point, she managed to escape, but the suspect grabbed her once again and threw her back inside the vehicle, where he forced himself on her.

Meanwhile, the girl's mother had gone looking for her daughter. When she spotted the van, she began screaming and banging on the windows. Police soon arrived, but the perpetrator had fled the area.

On Saturday, police found Lopez and booked him into the Palm Beach County jail on several charges, including kidnapping to sexually assault a minor, sexual assault of a victim under 12, and resisting an officer. His bond was denied.

The evidence against Lopez at this point appears overwhelming. For one thing, Sheriff Ric Bradshaw told reporters that "he’s confessed to the crime."

Hermencia Vasquez, Lopez's sister-in-law, confronted him shortly after the alleged attack, and he confessed to her as well. "I asked Marvin what would he do if she got pregnant and if he would be responsible, and he said yes he would be responsible for the child," Vasquez told WPTV in Spanish.

Lopez first crossed the border from Mexico into the United States in January. He then turned himself in to Border Patrol and was soon afterward released with a hearing date scheduled for some time in 2027 — three years from now.

Immigration attorney Richard Hujber told WPTV that many illegal aliens take advantage of the backlogged system and buy time by turning themselves in. "They know they'll get a hearing date many years from now," Hujber explained, "and during that time, just with that hearing notice, for example, they can get a driver's license.

"If they seek asylum, they can also get a work permit," Hujber added, "and nobody is looking at the merit as to whether they have a legitimate valid asylum claim."

"The federal government is victimizing the people who live in this country by letting these people in here," Sheriff Bradshaw claimed.

Immigration concerns may even have led the mother of the 11-year-old alleged rape victim to hesitate to report the attack, the affidavit said. Not only was the woman allegedly concerned about her "immigration status," but she also claimed that a "prior incident" had caused her to be separated from her daughter for a period of time, WPTV reported.

Bradshaw claimed that, immigration issues aside, justice for the young girl would be done. "[Lopez is] gonna get tried for a capital crime before he even remotely thinks he’s gonna get deported," the sheriff said.

"He’s gonna do the time here first."

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