A man is being held in Florida on a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detainer after police charged him with sexual battery against a 14-year-old girl who he allegedly transported to the state from Georgia.
Public records reveal Luis Mario Santizo-Mendez, 18, was booked into the Miami Dade County jail on Tuesday, where he was charged with lewd or lascivious battery on a child, and is now precluded from release due to both an immigration hold and an out-of-state warrant that may pertain to alleged crimes he may have committed in Georgia. He was initially granted a $7,500 bond.
A Miami Dade Police Department (MDPD) police report published Thursday states that an officer was dispatched to a Homestead, Florida address after the Georgia Bureau of Investigations (GBI) contacted the police department to seek its help locating a missing 14-year-old girl.
According to the report, the officer ultimately located Santizo-Mendez (pictured above) with the teenager, who the officer wrote, “stated that she and the offender were talking for approximately five months.”
The 14-year-old victim also reportedly told the officer that Santizo-Mendez traveled to Georgia from Florida to retrieve the minor and confirmed to law enforcement that sexual activity occurred.
Under questioning, the report claims Santizo-Mendez also admitted to pursuing a sexual relationship with the minor.
An additional court record shows Santizo-Mendez was ruled indigent and qualified for a public attorney, with the defendant stating that his income and expenses equal $2,000 per month. The report also revealed that Santizo-Mendez is employed as a laborer.
Santizo-Mendez was arrested the same day a bipartisan majority in the U.S. House passed the Laken Riley Act, which would expand the power of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to detain illegal immigrants accused of crimes, especially those involving deaths, and allow state attorneys general to sue to federal government for harms caused due to federal immigration policy.
An illegal immigrant from Venezuela was convicted last year of killing Laken Riley, a 22-year-old nursing student who was fatally attacked while jogging on the University of Georgia campus. Her killer, Jose Ibarra, requested a new trial in December.
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Tom Pappert is the lead reporter for The Tennessee Star, and also reports for The Pennsylvania Daily Star and The Arizona Sun Times. Follow Tom on X/Twitter. Email tips to [email protected].
