GREENFIELD, Calif. -- A father is accused of trying to sell his 14-year-old daughter for marriage in hopes of getting money and 100 cases of beer in return, Greenfield police said.
Macelino de Jesus Martinez, 36, was arrested Monday on suspicion of trying to arrange to have his daughter marry Margarito de Jesus Galindo, 18, for $16,000, 100 cases of beer, several cases of meat and other items, authorities said.
The girl moved in with Galindo and when payments were not received, her father called police to get his daughter back.
Greenfield Police Chief Joe Grebmeier told KSBW Action News 8 that both Martinez and Galindo, who are immigrants from Mexico, face the possibility of being deported as illegal immigrants.
Grebmeier also said that both men didn’t fully understand that what they were doing was wrong.
Galindo was arrested and booked into the Monterey County Jail on suspicion of statutory rape, and Martinez was arrested and booked on suspicion of receiving money for causing a person to cohabitate.
Arranged marriages are common in several cultures, and police said that it is not an issue in this case.
But California law prohibits arranged marriage where one or both of the parties have been coerced.
Grebmeier said that there have been rumors of arranged marriages taking place in the Greenfield area before, but that this was the first arrest concerning the act of human trafficking in the city that he knows of.
Topic: Father Accused of Selling Daughter for Beer (Read 1439 times)