Guatemalan teen was forced to cook, clean for Lancaster County family, deputies allege

ANDREW WEGLEY Lincoln Journal Star Aug 4, 2023

The 17-year-old girl who was brought to Lancaster County illegally last month from Guatemala and allegedly abused by a 34-year-old man until his arrest was also forced to cook, clean and provide child care for eight other occupants in the house south of Lincoln, deputies said in new court filings.

Lancaster County Sheriff's deputies arrested Alvaro Gomez-Lopez on Tuesday at the house where he'd been living — at 3501 Saltillo Road — before prosecutors charged him Wednesday with felony child abuse for allegedly withholding food from her, sexually and verbally abusing her and forcing her to work to repay the debt incurred when he paid to have her brought to Nebraska from Guatemala, according to court filings.



Gomez-Lopez, who authorities said entered the U.S. illegally about six months ago before paying to have the girl brought here in mid-July, is the only person who has yet been arrested or charged with a crime stemming from the girl's alleged abuse, Sheriff's Capt. Tommy Trotter said.

But the girl indicated to deputies that the other occupants of the house — including the registered tenant, his wife and their three children and three other adults — had at least benefited from her abuse, Investigator Joanna Dimas said in the probable cause statement for Gomez-Lopez's arrest.

In an interview Tuesday at the BraveBe Child Advocacy Center in Lincoln, the girl, through an interpreter, told deputies she had lived at the house for three days when a female occupant pushed her into a cupboard and told her she was no longer allowed to eat any food in the home, Dimas wrote in the statement.

More:
https://wahoo-ashland-waverly.com/news/state-regional/crime-courts/guatemalan-teen-was-forced-to-cook-clean-for-lancaster-county-family-deputies-allege/article_1c5ec26a-245a-5375-8aa4-96f77f974f28.html