California police rescue woman forced to live in closet for year
SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - A Nicaraguan woman who was held captive in a closet for about a year, suffering daily physical and sexual abuse, has been rescued and two suspects arrested, police in the San Francisco Bay Area community of Richmond said.
Local authorities were alerted by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security as well as a community organization, the Richmond Police Department said in a statement on Tuesday.
The woman was lured to the United States from Nicaragua by a 35-year-old man who told her over Facebook she would be able to secure a better life and work opportunities, according to the statement.
Investigators were able to reach the victim's cell phone and located the residence, 20 miles (32 km) northeast of San Francisco. Police arrested the suspect and an adult male relative of his who also lived at the home. It was not immediately disclosed when the arrests occurred.
"Evidence at the residence confirmed all the information the detectives had obtained," police said in the statement.
Police did not provide the identities of any of the individuals. There was no word on the woman's condition.
(Reporting by Curtis Skinner in San Francisco; Editing by Dan Whitcomb and Peter Cooney)
