Allen Ross Marine, a 20-year-old resident of Flagler Beach, is at the Flagler County jail since Monday on a charge of sexually assaulting a 14-year-old girl last September in his neighborhood in Bulow Plantation, off Old Kings Road.
Marine was 19 at the time. The girl and Marine live in the same area. She knew him as a close friend of her older brother’s. The alleged incident took place on Sept. 18 at about 1 a.m., when the girl told detectives she was was walking to a friend’s house, he approached her, pulled her pants down and assaulted her. She said he had assaulted her five days earlier when he forced her to perform oral sex.
The Child Protection Team performed an emergency medical exam within hours of the alleged assault, revealing evidence of a sexual encounter. Samples were sent to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement for analysis.
Marine told a detective the day after the alleged assault that he did not have any contact with the girl–not physically, not by phone, not through social media. He provided a sample of his DNA. It matched that provided in mid-October by FDLE. By then the detective had gathered evidence from the girl’s cell phone, which also pointed to sexually-themed communications between the alleged victim and Marine.
The day the detective received the analysis from FDLE, the detective also got a call from Marine’s mother. She said Marine “did admit he had sexual relations with” the girl, “however it was against his will,” according to Marine’s arrest report. The report does not explain how so. “I offered an opportunity for Allen Marine to provide his version of the events, however I have not received any information to date,” the detective wrote in the arrest affidavit signed on Dec. 5.
Marine was originally charged with two counts of lewd and lascivious battery, which are second degree felonies. He was booked at the Volusia Branch jail on Oct. 23 on the original charges. On Monday, Assistant State Attorney Melissa Clark filed one count of lewd and lascivious battery. The next day, Allen was transferred to the Flagler County jail, where he remains on $50,000 bond. His arraignment is scheduled for Nov. 30 before Circuit Judge Terence Perkins. He is currently represented by a public defender.
If Allen is convicted, Florida’s Romeo and Juliet law would not apply. The law in some cases erases the sexual offender designation for an offender who’s engaged in unlawful sex with a victim between the ages of 14 and 17. But the age difference between offender and victim must be no greater than four years. It was five at the time of the alleged offense between Marine and the girl. Marine turned 20 in April.
Sam Field says
The residents of Bulow Plantation Villages would appreciate if criminal activity occurring in the campground could be designated as Bulow Campground. Although the campground is not zoned for permanent residents there are many people living there year round. The worst crimes in the Villages has been the theft of plant urn and the planting of a Trump sign in an owner’s yard.