Article: Hmong cultural clashes Charges filed after man, 26, arranges marriage to girl, 13.(News)

Byline: Felix Doligosa Jr., Rocky Mountain News

During a small, traditional Hmong wedding in the backyard of the bride's Commerce City home last April, attendees shared smiles and toasts.

The groom may have had the biggest grin because after three months of courtship and paying a $6,000 dowry, he had proven to his parents-in-law that he cared for their daughter.

Afterward, family members characterized the ceremony as a blessed joining of two people in love.

But for Adams County prosecutors, it was a troubling example of one culture's customs clashing with American law. The problem, law enforcement officials say, is the bride's age.

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