Charges Dropped Against Marine in Sexual Assault Case

Last summer, a Marine in Southern California had been accused of having sex with a teenage girl.

The Marine, Pfc. Avery Rosario, claimed that he thought the girl was of age.

When authorities found her in his barracks room on June 28, he was taken into custody and charged.

Charges Dropped

The San Diego County Sheriff’s Department reported that the girl’s grandmother had reported the girl as a runaway on June 13, which was four days after she went missing.

Rosario then claimed that he met the girl on Tinder, a dating app, saying that he thought she was 21 when he met her.

Several of Rosario’s friends had also told investigators that the girl seemed to be of age to them, at least in her early 20s.

On June 28, as noted above, the girl was found in his barracks, where it was then revealed that she was only 14 years old.

The case took a complete reversal this week when, after a consultation with the family, it was decided that the sexual assault charges would be dropped against Rosario.

The family of the girl did not make any comment to the media on the case.

Rosario’s attorney had offered up a deal in the case to have Rosario plead guilty to breach of restriction for having left the base without permission, far better off than facing sexual assault charges.

Rosario was given time served and administratively discharged from the Marine Corps.

This is basically the Marine Corps “firing” Rosario, not having enough evidence of misconduct to dishonorably discharge the Marine.

While not quite a dishonorable discharge, Rosario could face some of the penalties that accompany a dishonorable discharge in terms of receiving future benefits for having served.