He sells daughter for beer & meat

By Tracy Connor
Daily News Staff Writer

Wednesday, January 14th 2009, 12:59 AM

A California man was arrested for selling his 14-year-old daughter into marriage in exchange for $16,000 - and a whole lot of beer.

Marcelino de Jesus Martinez, 36, wanted 100 cases of Corona, 50 cases of Modelo, 100 cases of soda and two cases of wine, topped off with six cases of beef.

His daughter was packed off to live with 18-year-old Margarito Galindo, and the two lived as husband and wife.

But Galindo never made good on the marriage contract, so Martinez called the police to report his daughter as a runaway.

Investigators soon unearthed the real story and Martinez was charged with a felony under human-trafficking laws. Galindo could face statutory-rape charges.

Cops said the teenager was a willing participant in the selloff and that the arranged marriage and dowry was common in the Mexican Trique community.

"We have heard rumors and third-party hearsay of girls as young as 12 years old and younger, and men as old as their 60s, in some of these transactions," Greenfield, Calif., Police Chief Joe Grebmeier told The Californian newspaper.

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