Military installations are supposed to be secure. So, why was a 14-year-old missing girl with learning disabilities found in one of the barracks at Camp Pendleton?
It’s a question many people, including the girl's family, are asking after learning the teen from Spring Valley, California, was miles from home at the Marine Corps base in Oceanside nearly two weeks after she was reported missing.
A Marine with the 1st Logistics Marine Group was taken into custody for questioning but has not been arrested or formally charged in the case, which is being investigated by Naval Criminal Investigative Services.
The girl’s aunt told NBC San Diego in an interview Monday that she’s worried the Marines may be trying to cover up criminal behavior to protect the image of the Marine Corp.
“This is extremely frustrating,” said Casaundra Perez. “Especially since NCIS seems to be not sharing any information with us.”
Perez is also claiming people who work on base are “leaking” information via social media posts that could be detrimental to the case. “Right now it's sounding more that they’re trying to control the narrative that nothing was done wrong.”
Perez said she’s worried investigators will try to place the blame on her niece, who she suggested has shared details of her ordeal with the family — information that Perez says an attorney has advised her to stay quiet about.
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“It’s illegal no matter how you put it. The age of consent in California is 18. Something is not right regardless,” she added.
Perez is urging Marines on the base to come forward and speak out.
“Please hold your fellow service members accountable. Please be the hero you signed up to be," she pleaded.
Perez said she could not discuss the facts of the case right now, but said, “This is something bigger than anyone can imagine.”
The San Diego County Sheriff's Department and the San Diego Human Trafficking Task Force are supporting NCIS with the investigation.
