NC man fathered two children with kidnapped 13-year-old

GRAHAM, N.C. — A Graham man pleaded guilty Monday to kidnapping a 13-year-old girl and taking her out of state for three years while they had two children together.

The girl’s family knew of the relationship and it’s possible that her mother had been involved with the man before, Alamance County Assistant District Attorney Alex Dawson told the court. The girl ran away from her Graham residence the night of Sept. 3, 2006, after an argument with her mother about the relationship, Dawson said.

Mendoza Galmaliel Maldonado, 33, of Dewey Drive in Graham, was 27 in September of 2006 when he fled with a 13-year-old girl whom he was having a relationship with, Dawson said in Superior Court Monday. The pair lived for stints of time in Florida, Georgia and Texas. During that time, she had phone contact with her family.

She gave birth to their first child in 2007, when she was 14, Dawson said, and when she returned home in early 2009 was pregnant with their second child.

Maldonado remained in Texas for a time but returned to Alamance County under a fake name when the girl called him in 2011 and said she needed his help raising their children.

The girl’s brother spotted Maldonado in January 2011 and reported him to police.

Maldonado was originally charged with two counts of statutory rape and first-degree kidnapping. Dawson said the Alamance County office couldn’t proceed on those charges because both the girl and Maldonado said their relationship didn’t become sexual until after they left the county.

The girl, who is now 18, also refused to testify against Maldonado and told Dawson he is a good father and husband.

“She threatened leaving the jurisdiction so she wouldn’t have to testify,” Dawson said.

In meetings with the girl’s family, Dawson said they gave “cultural explanations to me that she knew what she was doing at the time” and spoke of the differences between what is legal outside of the U.S.

Maldonado is being held under a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detainer and will be deported following a 20- to 33-month prison sentence.

Defense attorney Monica Nesbitt said the girl plans to leave the U.S. to live in Mexico with Maldonado. Nesbitt also said police listed the child as a runaway rather than missing, an important distinction in searching for juveniles, and that he didn’t hold her against her will.

Dawson asked for an active prison sentence. Nesbitt asked for credit for jail time, but also that some of the 14 months Maldonado spent in jail might carry over to a pending driving while impaired charge in District Court.

“The defendant is sentenced to a minimum of 20 and a maximum of 33 months active and that’s just the way it’s going to be,” said Superior Court Judge Wayne Abernathy. “Perhaps he can get the DWI (sentence) to run concurrently but that’s not my problem. He broke the law and that’s it.”

Maldonado will have to register as a sex offender for 30 years.

WSOC