2014 Santa Ana kidnapping case

In May 2014, a man named Isidro Merdrano Garcia or Isidro Medrano Garcia, who had been living under the name Tomas Medrano or Tomas Madrano, was arrested and accused by police of kidnapping a 15-year-old girl in 2004 and repeatedly raping her and continuing to hold her captive until 2014. Garcia allegedly forced the victim to marry him in 2007 and had a child with her on October 27, 2010 or in 2012, and they continued lived openly together as a family in Bell Gardens, California until the woman contacted her sister through Facebook and met with her mother in April 2014 and then filed a domestic violence complaint with Bell Gardens police on May 19, 2014. Despite their apparently active social life in the community, including hosting large parties and the woman spending time and running errands by herself and working outside the home (with Garcia), police said the woman had tried to escape twice and been severely beaten. Through his attorney, Garcia has claimed that the woman made up the story of abuse because the couple was breaking up. Some neighbors and a nanny for their child reported that the man and woman were active as a couple in the local church and social community and showed no apparent signs of serious problems prior to the man's arrest. A neighbor said "He treats her like a queen. He does his best to do whatever she wants", and said the woman had her own car. However, some other neighbors said they sensed that not all was well. One said that Garcia seemed to closely watch her, and that when she noticed he was watching from their apartment, she would rapidly go back inside. The girl was born in Mexico and had unlawfully entered the U.S. from Mexico in February 2004 (about six months before her alleged kidnapping) to join her mother and sister who were living in Santa Ana, California. Garcia was the girl's mother's live-in boyfriend, and allegedly began abusing her while she lived with her mother. Following a domestic argument between the girl's mother and Garcia, the girl left home and went to a park, where Garcia found her and allegedly drugged and kidnapped her and then held her captive in a garage in Compton while telling her that no one was looking for her and that she would be deported if she was found. She was unable to speak English at the time, and Garcia allegedly used this to intimidate her. The girl's mother filed a missing person's report in August 2004, shortly after the alleged abduction, and had suspected that Garcia had abducted her. After she contacted her mother a decade later in 2014, her mother reportedly showed her old news articles to prove that she had been looking for her and had filed a missing person's report. This reportedly helped convince her to go to the police and file a report about her alleged abduction. It was alleged that during her captivity, the woman had been moved at least four times and had been given multiple fake identities. Garcia held various jobs during the period of the alleged captivity, and the woman and Garcia had been working together outside the home for a night cleaning service – including cleaning a building that houses offices of the Los Angeles County Department of Children and Family Services. At the time of the arrest, Garcia was also working a second job, at a nearby Chinese restaurant. On June 9, 2014, Garcia pleaded not guilty to charges including kidnapping, rape, and three counts of lewd acts on a minor. His bail was set at $1 million, and he reportedly faces up to 19 years in prison if convicted. In a report about the arraignment, neighbor Jose Polanco was quoted as saying "What she is saying is a lie," and "She was a free woman," and other neighbors were also reported to be supporting Garcia and portraying the couple as a seemingly happy pair who threw parties and took trips to Disneyland. On April 24, 2015, Garcia was ordered to stand trial on charges of rape and kidnapping.