Bond doubled for suspect in child rape

January 01, 2008|Associated Press

MILFORD, Conn. - A judge doubled the bond yesterday on a Maryland man charged with raping a girl he drove across the country with other illegal immigrants, authorities said.

Milford State's Attorney Kevin Lawlor said Francisco P. Pascual's bond was increased to $2 million during his arraignment.

The 12-year-old girl, whose mother lives in the Boston area, fled Pascual at a Milford hotel Saturday and was found at a gas station, authorities said.

Pascual, 25, of Gwynn Oak, Md., is charged with sexual assault, kidnapping, risk of injury to a minor, unlawful restraint, and assault, police said.

The girl told police she was a native of El Salvador and had been living with her grandmother there until recently.

Her mother and other family members had paid to have the girl smuggled into the United States, police said. She told them she was among a group that arrived in California about four days earlier.

The girl told officers Pascual dropped the others at sites across the United States, leaving the two of them alone in his vehicle after a stop in New York.

He held the girl against her will, then got a room at a Milford hotel and raped her, police said.

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