March 24--A man charged more than 11 years ago in the rape of a 12-year-old Chambersburg girl is scheduled to have his preliminary hearing Tuesday in Franklin County Central Court.
Angel Edward Martinez, 36, was arrested March 15 in Hagerstown, Md. on a warrant that was a decade old. He was extradited back to Pennsylvania five days later, arraigned by Magisterial District Judge Glenn Manns and placed in Franklin County Jail in lieu of $225,000 bail.
Chambersburg Police Chief David Arnold wrote in an e-mail that Martinez was found as the result of a warrant service detail by the Franklin County U.S. Marshals Fugitive Task Force. He said other police agencies provided information about his possible location and investigators followed up.
"It is rare that a wanted individual remains a fugitive for that length of time and perhaps rarer still that law enforcement apprehends an individual after that length of time," Arnold wrote.
According to a police affidavit filed Jan. 18, 2001, a woman reported to Chambersburg Police Detective William Frisby that Martinez had sex with her 12-year-old daughter on Jan. 4.
The girl told police that she met Martinez at the Chambersburg Mall in late November, and they began seeing each other and talking on the phone. She said he gave her a sweater for her birthday and a necklace on her birthday. Martinez would have been about 25 at the time.
On Jan. 4, the girl skipped school and met Martinez at the Exxon gas station near the mall, according
to the affidavit. She told police that they spent the morning at his house, 985 Scotland Ave., talking and listening to music. He took her to get pizza for lunch, then they returned to his house.
The girl told police that she was listening to music with Martinez in his bedroom and they mutually agreed to have intercourse. Afterwards he drove her back to the gas station and dropped her off.
Frisby filed a single charge of rape, a first-degree felony, against Martinez. He attempted several times over the following year to arrest him at the Scotland Avenue address, but the people there told him that Martinez had returned to his native country, El Salvador.
According to a second affidavit filed July 26, 2002, Frisby went to the same address to speak with Edin Martinez, who was the victim of a recent armed robbery. When he approached five men in the backyard, Frisby noticed Angel Martinez sitting in a blue Toyota sedan.
Frisby wrote in the affidavit that he ordered Martinez to shut off the car and get out, which he allegedly ignored and began trying to drive out of the yard. He backed out, nearby hitting another car and driving fast through an alley behind the house.
Following the encounter, Martinez was charged with escape; a third-degree felony, and fleeing or eluding police; a second-degree misdemeanor. His whereabouts had remained unknown since then, until his arrest earlier this month.
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Jim Tuttle can be reached at [email protected] or at 262-4754
Copyright 2012 - Public Opinion, Chambersburg, Pa.
