Marine charged with sexual assault of a minor after a missing 14-year-old girl was found in Camp Pendleton barracks

• A 14-year-old girl went missing in June, and was found two weeks later in the barracks of a Marine Corps base.
• A military spokesperson said a Marine has been charged with sexual assault of a minor.

Military prosecutors have charged a Marine with sexual assault of a minor after a 14-year-old girl — who had been missing for two weeks — was discovered in Camp Pendleton's barracks, according to a military spokesperson.

Military police found the 14-year-old girl at the barracks on June 28. She originally ran away from her grandmother's home on June 9, and was reported missing on June 13, according to the San Diego County Sheriff's Department.

A woman who identified herself as the girl's aunt posted a TikTok video that quickly went viral, alleging her niece was raped at the barracks. The woman, Casaundra Perez, told The Los Angeles Times that military police questioned her niece without a guardian present, and expressed concerns that the military would try to sweep the incident under the rug.

"They're trying to cover it up and place the majority of the blame on her. However, the reality is the whole facility allowed this to happen," Perez said in her TikTok video. "The security looked her in the face and allowed this man to bring a minor onto the base, where he proceeded to have sex with her. Due to her age, she could not have given this consent."

The Marine, who has not been publicly identified, is scheduled to attend a preliminary hearing on August 17, the military spokesperson said.

The spokesperson added that the Marine has also been charged with a "violating liberty restriction from a prior, unrelated case."

"After the preliminary hearing, the command will review all charges and evidence to determine whether the case should be tried by court-martial," a military spokesperson told Insider in a statement on Friday. "To protect the integrity of the ongoing investigation and the rights of the subject, further information is unavailable until this decision is made."