Sex crimes charges dropped against California Marine after missing teen found in barracks

SAN DIEGO– A Southern California Marine accused of having sex with a missing 14-year-old girl found in his barracks room at Camp Pendleton last summer will no longer face sex crimes charges, military officials said this week.

Under an agreement offered by his attorney, Pfc. Avery Rosario pleaded guilty Tuesday to violating restrictions for leaving the base without permission, the San Diego Union-Tribune reported.

He was sentenced to prison and agreed to be administratively separated, essentially being discharged from the Marine Corps without a dishonorable discharge.

Before the plea deal, Rosario was charged with assault after he was arrested June 28 when the missing girl was discovered in his room. His lawyer claimed that Rosario thought the girl was an adult. She was returned to her family.

The decision to dismiss allegations that Rosario sexually abused a minor came after consultation with the girl and her family through the girl’s attorney, a military spokesman told the Union-Tribune.

A relative of the teen told NBC San Diego after Tuesday’s hearing that the family had no 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 that the teen had run away before, but usually returned quickly.

Capt. Katherine Malcolm, an attorney for Rosario, said in court that the Marine met the teen on the dating app Tinder and that her client “truly believed” she was 21 years old. Rosario’s friends told investigators they also thought she was in her early 20s, the Union-Tribune reported.