The unidentified victim, now 25, contacted police almost a decade after she was reported missing by her mother.
Isidro Garcia was taken into custody on Tuesday on suspicion of kidnapping for rape, lewd acts with a minor and false imprisonment, the Santa Ana Police Department announced Wednesday.
The victim was 15 years old in August 2004, when her mother reported that she and her boyfriend Garcia went missing "after a domestic violence incident."
The mother believed Garcia, who lived with the family, had been sexually abusing the teen, but had no proof, according to police.
After recently contacting her sister on Facebook, the victim "eventually gained the courage to contact the police," according to a Police Department news release.
She said that Garcia began sexually assaulting her in June 2004 while they both lived at the family's home in the 800 block of South Fairview Street in Santa Ana (map). Then, in August, Garcia assaulted the mother, drugged the victim and drove her to a house in Compton, the victim told police.
He allegedly gave her fake identification papers and locker her in a garage overnight.
"Over the course of the following months and years, Garcia repeatedly told the victim her family had given up looking for her, and if she tried to go back to them, the family would be deported," the news release stated.
Garcia allegedly frequently assaulted the victim sexually and physically, and the couple repeatedly moved to avoid police.
They worked at a nighttime cleaning service so that Garcia "could keep a close eye on the victim," according to police.
"Even with the opportunity to escape, after years of physical and mental abuse, the victim saw no way out of her situation and lived a life with Garcia under sustained physical and mental abuse," the news release stated.
Garcia forced her to marry him in 2007, police said, and she bore him a child in 2012.
The case against Garcia has been submitted to the Orange County District Attorney's Office for consideration.
Garcia was not listed on the Orange County inmate locater website, and it was not immediately clear where he was being held.
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