SAN DIEGO (AP) — A Southern California Marine accused of having sex with a missing 14-year-old girl found in his Camp Pendleton barracks last summer no longer faces sex crime charges , military officials said this week.
Under a deal offered by his defense attorney, Pfc. Avery Rosario pleaded guilty Tuesday to violating restrictions for leaving the base without authorization, the San Diego Union-Tribune reported.
He was sentenced to prison and agreed to be administratively separated, essentially discharged from the Marine Corps without a dishonorable discharge.
Prior to the plea deal, Rosario was facing sexual assault charges after being arrested June 28 when the missing girl was discovered in his bedroom. Her lawyer argued that Rosario thought the girl was an adult. She was returned to her family.
The decision to dismiss allegations that Rosario sexually assaulted a minor was made after consultation with the girl and her family through the girl’s lawyer, a military spokesperson told the Union-Tribune.
A relative of the teen told NBC San Diego after Tuesday’s hearing that the family did not wish to comment.
According to the San Diego County Sheriff’s Department, the teen’s grandmother reported her as a runaway on June 13, four days after she disappeared. The grandmother told authorities the teen had run away before but usually returned quickly.
Capt. Katherine Malcolm, Rosario’s attorney, told the court that the Marine met the teen on the dating app Tinder and that her client had “a genuine belief” that she was 21 years old. Rosario’s friends told investigators they also thought she was in her 20s, the Union-Tribune reported.
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