After kidnapping in Honduras, teen ended up in San Leandro backyard shed, police say
November 17, 2021
A teen girl was allegedly kidnapped from Honduras and kept in a shed in San Leandro for months. Two charged with human trafficking and rape
OAKLAND — A married couple are facing charges of kidnapping, sexually assaulting, and trafficking a teen who reported to police that one of the defendants kidnapped her from Honduras and kept her in a shed in his San Leandro backyard for months, court records show.
Juan Aguilar, 41, and his wife, Margaret Wilson, 39, both of San Leandro, face charges of kidnapping to commit a sex crime, human trafficking of a minor, forcible rape, and forcible oral copulation. They have both pleaded not guilty; both are in Santa Rita Jail in Dublin on no-bail holds.
According to police, the nine-month ordeal for the teen — referred to in court records as Jane Doe — started last January when Aguilar allegedly kidnapped her at gunpoint from Honduras, and threatened that he would murder her grandmother if she went to the authorities. She said Aguilar raped her while they traveled together from Honduras to Guatemala, then sold her to a “coyote” — a person who would smuggle her inside the United States — who also sexually assaulted her.
The girl arrived in Texas in May, then was transported to San Leandro by someone investigators have yet to identify, according to court records. For the next five months, Aguilar and Wilson allegedly kept her in a shed in their backyard, where Aguilar “repeatedly raped her,” a police investigator wrote in court papers.
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*Names has been changed to protect the victim’s identity.