Man accused of attacking 12-year-old at bus stop charged, granted $500,000 bond

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. – The man accused of kidnapping and sexually assaulting a young girl as she waited for her morning school bus was in court Thursday, officially charged with two felonies.

Marquis Martinez, 25, faces two charges related to the alleged confrontation: attempted criminal sexual conduct in the second degree, and kidnapping.

If convicted, he could face life in prison. He could also be placed on the sex offenders register.

The Kent County Prosecutor’s Office requested that Martinez be given a substantial cash bond, saying, “The seriousness of the charges and the safety of the community and the safety of the victim are also concerns.”

Martinez was given a $500,000 cash bond. If released, he must wear a GPS tether and not use alcohol or illegal drugs.

“The facts and circumstances surrounding the allegations raise significant public safety concerns,”
the judge explained to the court.

A public defender temporarily representing Martinez told the court he has lived in the Grand Rapids area his entire life. He said Martinez is not currently employed but was in the process of looking for work.

The incident in question happened Tuesday morning around 7 a.m. near Bradford Street and Ball Avenue, Grand Rapids Police Chief Eric Winstrom said.

Chief Winstrom says the girl was waiting for her school bus when the man approached and dragged her across the street as he tried to sexually assault her.

According to court documents obtained by FOX 17 late Thursday, the girl asked Martinez if he was “going to shoot or kill her.”

He allegedly told her that this was not the case and that he “just wanted to have a good time with her”.

When he dropped something, the girl managed to get away. She said during a forensic interview that Martinez told her to “get back.”

The girl was able to run back to her house and quickly alert her mother.

Martinez was arrested a short time later for the attempted assault near the intersection of Plymouth and Mason.

According to court documents, Martinez admitted to confronting the young girl at her bus stop.

“Marquis stated that he drank vodka the previous night and remembered being happy when he woke up,” they read.

“Marquis said that when he’s drunk he tries to be friendly, but it seems weird.”

He apparently told investigators he felt “terrible” about what he did.

The documents state that Marquis wrote a letter of apology to the young girl, claiming that he was “so sorry” for what he had done, and that he did not mean to do it.

Investigators will occasionally have suspects write such letters during the interrogation process as a further method of proving their involvement in a crime.

“Right from the beginning, we get information from a 12-year-old girl, and we have to assume that everything she says is true because there is a possibility that there is a monster out here,” Chief Winstrom told FOX 17 on Wednesday.

“In this case, everything she said was true. There was a monster out there and we were able to take them into custody.”

Chief Winstrom explained that he was located by a Grand Rapids Fire Department crew who were driving in the area. They were aware of what had happened to the girl and called a possibly suspicious-looking man who had been seen in a nearby wooded area.

“This girl came very close to having her life completely changed and possibly taken from her, because these individuals, as I described them, are often like monsters a sexual act, and then it becomes a violent crime, which has ended many turns into murder.”

Martinez is expected back in court in the coming weeks for what is called a probable cause conference.

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