The parents of a 14-year-old girl at the center of the Baby Angelita investigation have both been arrested, days after the girl was found safe in Mexico.
Monterey County Sheriff’s Office detectives arrested the victim’s mother, Ofelia Garcia Ortega, 36, Tuesday afternoon at the Salinas courthouse on charges that include possessing forged identification and child endangerment.
Detectives served Garcia Ortega with an arrest warrant issued earlier Tuesday and took her into custody without incident at about 2:45 p.m., according to the Sheriff’s Office.
Her husband, Sergio Galvez Perez, 38, was arrested in Mexico during an operation in which Mexican law enforcement rescued the couple’s 14-year-old daughter, the Sheriff’s Office announced Sunday.
The victim is currently in the care of authorities in Mexico. The Sheriff’s Office did not say when or where in Mexico she was found, or when she could return to the United States.
The Pajaronian does not generally identify victims of sexual assault. Although authorities have publicly released the girl’s name in connection with the investigation and the Amber Alert, The Pajaronian is withholding her name because she is an alleged victim of sexual abuse.
The case began with the Aug. 1 discovery of a newborn girl, whom authorities have called “Baby Angelita.”
The baby was found dead alongside Struve Road in north Monterey County. Investigators later determined that the victim, who was 14, had given birth alongside the road and left the newborn there. A post-mortem examination found signs of traumatic injury, according to the Sheriff’s Office. The victim was subsequently identified as a suspect in the baby’s death.
But investigators have also described the girl as the victim of alleged sexual abuse by her father.
Sheriff’s investigators previously said Galvez Perez is the biological father of both the victim and Baby Angelita. Authorities allege that he sexually abused and impregnated the girl when she was 13. Warrants were issued for his arrest on suspicion of incest, lewd or lascivious acts with a child under 14, lewd acts with a minor, unlawful sexual intercourse, child concealment and child endangerment.
Mexican authorities arrested Galvez Perez during the operation to rescue the girl after allegedly finding him in possession of narcotics. Mexican authorities are also aware that he faces charges in Monterey County for alleged crimes against the victim, Sheriff Tina Nieto said.
“Monterey County Sheriff’s Office detectives have worked closely with the FBI and Mexican authorities to secure [the victim’s] safe rescue,” Nieto said.
Garcia Ortega now faces two felony counts of displaying or possessing a forged identification card, along with misdemeanor counts of permitting a child to suffer or be endangered and contributing to the delinquency of a minor.
According to the Monterey County District Attorney’s Office, investigators determined that Garcia Ortega allegedly put her daughter to work in agricultural fields when she was 13 using falsified documentation. Authorities also allege that Garcia Ortega allowed her daughter to drive without a license and remain completely out of school.
The Sheriff’s Office said Garcia Ortega would be booked into Monterey County Jail.
The search for the girl intensified in early September after investigators discovered surveillance footage showing her and Galvez Perez together in the Salinas area in a white Nissan Altima without license plates. The footage allowed authorities to confirm that the two were together and provided enough information to request an Amber Alert. They had last been seen in Salinas at about 2 a.m. Aug. 4.
At the time, investigators said they did not know whether the girl was with her father voluntarily or against her will.
The Sheriff’s Office said the investigation remains active.
