Santiago, Aug 25 (EFE) A US Navy vessel crewman, who was arrested in the Chilean port of Valparaiso after being caught with a 15-year-old girl in a hotel, was released following a court appearance, authorities said.

The court ruled that because no sex act took place, Lester Andrew Santiago Galvez, 26, could not be indicted. But the hotel's owner, a 55-year-old woman, was charged with promoting prostitution and faces up to five years in prison.

The court barred the US sailor from entering Chile for three years.

Prosecutor Pablo Gomez said authorities suspect the hotel owner may have been part of a child-prostitution ring.

'There is evidence of a person who may have asked the minor to accompany the foreigner, and that is what the Carabineros (Chile's militarised national police) are investigating,' police Maj Sergio Lipski said earlier Monday.

Galvez was held at a Carabineros station until after midnight Sunday, when he was turned over to the Chilean navy.