Law enforcement authorities have captured a registered sex offender accused of kidnapping a 13-year-old girl from Orange County, Calif., and repeatedly raping her over several hours.
Authorities arrested 34-year-old Brian Estuardo Verbena-Martinez of Anaheim last week in Guatemala following a coordinated, multi-jurisdictional effort involving the FBI, the U.S. Department of Justice Office of International Affairs, and other local agencies, according to the press release. Prosecutors allege that on Dec. 5, 2025, Verbena-Martinez pulled alongside a 13-year-old girl who was walking on the street and asked if she needed a ride.
Investigators say he grew increasingly aggressive until the girl entered his vehicle. Over the next several hours, authorities allege he sexually assaulted her in multiple locations, including several parking lots and his Anaheim apartment while other children were home, before dropping her off at a friend’s residence in Garden Grove.
Westminster police identified Verbena-Martinez as the suspect and worked with the FBI and federal authorities to track him to Guatemala. Law enforcement agents arrested him there and are now working to return him to Orange County to face prosecution.
Prosecutors charged Verbena-Martinez with one felony count of kidnapping to commit a sex offense, one felony count of forcible rape, one felony count of sexual penetration of a child under 14 by force, one felony count of forcible oral copulation with a minor under 14 and three felony counts of lewd acts upon a child under 14. If convicted on all counts, he faces a maximum sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole. Verbena-Martinez previously registered as a sex offender after a 2019 Los Angeles County conviction for arranging to meet a minor with the intent to engage in sexual conduct.
“The crimes alleged against Verbena-Martinez are beyond horrific and something the young victim in this case must tragically endure,” said Akil Davis, Assistant Director in Charge of the FBI’s Los Angeles Field Office. “This is the third announcement of a fugitive returned to Orange County this year from countries including Mexico, Vietnam and Guatemala, based on the successful relationship with the FBI, our law enforcement partners in Orange County, our foreign counterparts and the U.S. Department of Justice. The FBI will continue to assist local police when fugitives flee the state of California to evade capture.”
(Featured Image Media Credit: Wikimedia Commons/Public/Tony Webster, CC BY-SA 4.0)
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