VISTA, Calif. - A San Diego County couple has pleaded not guilty to sexually abusing a 12-year-old girl who was smuggled into the country and allegedly enslaved.
 
City News Service says Inez Martinez Garcia and Marcial Garcia Hernandez entered pleas Tuesday to 26 counts each of aggravated sexual abuse of a child. They're jailed and could face life in prison if convicted.
 
Prosecutors say the couple brought a relative to their Oceanside home from Mexico in 2001 with promises of a better life. Instead, they allegedly forced her to cook and clean, care for their three children, have sex with the husband and work as a prostitute.
 
She finally was removed from the home after she was badly beaten and returned to Mexico. The case was reopened when she returned to the U.S.