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Missing girl, 12, found safe

Margarita Aguilar-Lopez and Antonio Paulino-Perez, 25, an acquaintance of her brothers, are tracked to South Carolina.

By GRAHAM BRINK, SAUNDRA AMRHEIN, EDDY RAMIREZ and ALEX LEARY
Published April 28, 2005

BRADENTON - A 12-year-old girl who went missing earlier this week was found Wednesday evening at a Wal-Mart in northwestern South Carolina.

Margarita Aguilar-Lopez was "alive and well," if not a bit upset, authorities said. The man she was with, 25-year-old Antonio Paulino-Perez, was arrested on a charge of interfering with parents' custodial rights, a third-degree felony.

Detectives are still trying to determine whether Margarita was abducted or went willingly with Paulino-Perez.

"So much of the information we got was bad," Bradenton police Chief Michael Radzilowski said at a news conference Wednesday evening. "We're still asking questions."

Authorities tracked Margarita and Paulino-Perez to South Carolina using information from sources, the chief said.

FBI agents along with state and local officers used "good police work" to get the subjects to a Wal-Mart in Easley, S.C., at 8:33 p.m., Radzilowski said. He would not elaborate. "That's all I can say for now."

Margarita is expected to be flown back to Bradenton today. Her family, migrant workers from Mexico, are in the country illegally and had only been staying at the Classic Inn in Bradenton for a short time. Before that, they worked at a migrant farm in Ruskin, where Paulino-Perez also worked.

Detectives said the girl watched over her niece and nephew while adults in the family worked in the fields. Police said there are no records of her attending school. The girl's parents are in Mexico.

Authorities have not determined what will happen to Margarita or the rest of her family. One option is deportation.

Police received more than 70 tips about the disappearance, which triggered an Amber Alert on Tuesday afternoon. Authorities in states surrounding Florida were notified, as well as those along the way to Mexico.

The girl's brothers told police they left her alone for an hour while they went to the store, only to return to their motel room to find her gone.

There were conflicting reports whether the girl went missing Sunday or Monday. But Bradenton police Maj. William Tokajer said authorities are sticking with Monday because officers confirmed she was not there about 10 p.m. that night, when they responded to a fight at the motel, which involved one of the brothers.

At one point Wednesday, police put Francisco and Rufino Aguilar-Lopez, 26 and 24, up at a motel to keep an eye on the brothers. Police were troubled the men did not report the disappearance sooner.

Asked why they did not say anything when police visited the motel on Monday, the men replied that they were drunk and forgot, according to police.

Police struggled to nail down details of what may have prompted the disappearance. Communicating with Margarita's brothers was difficult because they speak mainly an Aztec dialect. A Florida Department of Law Enforcement translator recognized the dialect but still had trouble communicating.

Radzilowski said detectives felt they were dealing with a cultural barrier as well. Though the brothers reported Margarita missing, they "didn't seem very concerned" throughout the investigation.

In addition, police said many of the people they questioned were wary because they, too, are are illegal immigrants.

At one point, police thought another man may have been traveling with Paulino-Perez and the girl, police said. After she was found, Bradenton chief Radzilowski said Wednesday he did not know if that was the case.

But Isabel and Carlos Encarnacion Lopez, who live near the Ruskin migrant farm where Paulino-Perez worked, said when police questioned them they told officers that their nephew was with Paulino-Perez and the girl.

The couple said Arturo Lopez, 19, called them Tuesday and said he was with Paulino-Perez and the girl. "Why did you run off with the little girl? Are you crazy?' " Isabel Lopez scolded her nephew. The phone went dead. "I think he's scared," she said.

Little is known about Paulino-Perez. He has no criminal history in Florida or elsewhere in the United States, according to the FDLE. The FBI was researching his background in Mexico but the agency declined comment.

Still, police had determined that Paulino-Perez was at the motel drinking over the weekend and that he is an acquaintance of the brothers. They worked together at YU An Farms in Ruskin.

While authorities said the girl did not know Paulino-Perez, some workers at the farm said otherwise.

Jairo Luiz Garcia, 24, told a St. Petersburg Times reporter he saw Margarita with him at the farm about four months earlier. Because she is a minor, the girl was not given work at the farm.

In Bradenton Wednesday, one of Margarita's friends, Amanda Capen, said the girl recently told her she missed her family. The girls played hand slapping games called Miss You and Mama Mama.

Carmen Perez, another migrant worker who stayed with the family, described a disruptive scene at the brothers' two-room efficiency at the Classic Inn. Perez, 24, said the brothers drank heavily and kept him awake. He said he asked Margarita what she was doing there and she said her parents sent her to care for her niece and nephew. Margarita, he said, was respectful and polite, but quiet.

About 3 a.m. Sunday, Perez said he woke up and noticed Margarita and Paulino-Perez were gone. He said he tried to rouse the brothers, who were passed out from drinking. Perez said they brushed him off and went back to sleep.

Bradenton is about 20 miles south of Ruskin, where 12-year-old Sarah Lunde was strangled earlier this month, and about 110 miles south of Homosassa, where 9-year-old Jessica Lunsford was sexually assaulted and slain in February. A former boyfriend of Sarah's mother is charged with her death; a part-time neighbor is accused of killing Jessica.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

[Last modified April 28, 2005, 01:17:11]