A 14-year-old Lakewood girl who ran away with a man more than two weeks ago was found by police at the man’s Englewood home.
The girl was found Sunday at the apartment of Adan Garcia-Cruz in the 3600 block of South Pennsylvania Street, Englewood police said Monday. The girl was not being held against her will, but Garcia- Cruz is expected to face charges of sex assault on a child and harboring a runaway.
Minutes after a county judge granted Garcia-Cruz a personal-recognizance bond, which wouldn’t require a monetary commitment, agents with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detained him so his citizenship status could be investigated. The judge had denied a prosecutor’s request that Garcia- Cruz be held on $50,000 cash bail.
“Obviously we’re concerned that this … guy is going to be charged with sex assault on a minor and he’s given a PR bond,” said the girl’s father, who notified immigration officials after learning of the judge’s ruling. “I’m absolutely thrilled that he’s being detained and won’t be out on the streets again.”
The Denver Post is withholding the father’s name to protect the identity of his daughter.
On Jan. 19, police say Garcia-Cruz gave a bogus name to staff members at Creighton Middle School in Lakewood, where the girl is an eighth-grader.
With her cooperation, he convinced the school that he was her uncle, and they released her without properly checking his ID or determining whether her parents had granted anyone else permission to remove her. The school district has admitted the mistake.
The girl was later found at Garcia- Cruz’s apartment and placed in a youth home, from which she later ran away, family said.
Police suspect Garcia-Cruz is as old as 25, but he has not provided convincing evidence of date of birth or shown a proper identification. Prosecutors will investigate further to determine how old he is.
Charges are expected to be filed Wednesday, said 18th Judicial District attorney’s office spokeswoman Kathleen Walsh.
“This man is a predator; he preyed on her, and he’s taken a lot from her,” the girl’s father said. “Our main focus now is just to get her into a permanent counseling program to work on some of the issues that caused her to run.”
Staff writer Manny Gonzales can be reached at 303-820-1537 or mgonzales@denverpost.com.
