4 charged in alleged gang rape of California girl
By TERRY COLLINS, AP


RICHMOND, Calif. Four teens could appear in court as early as Thursday after being charged in the alleged gang rape of a 15-year-old girl outside her high school homecoming dance in Northern California.

The four ages 15, 16, 17 and 19 were charged Wednesday with rape and enhancements that they acted in concert, which could make them eligible for life in prison.

"These are people who played a significant role in the incident," Richmond Police Lt. Mark Gagan said. "I'm confident that more arrests will be made."

Besides rape, the 19-year-old, Manuel Ortega of Richmond, was charged with robbery and assault causing great bodily injury. It was unknown if he had an attorney.

The other three face one count each of felony rape with a foreign object. They were charged as adults because of the severity of the crime, Gagan said. The 16-year-old also faces robbery charges.

All four remained in custody Wednesday. A fifth suspect arrested Tuesday, 21-year-old Salvador Rodriguez of Richmond, also remained jailed but had not been charged.

The alleged gang rape and beating Saturday night at Richmond High School have rattled the city of about 120,000 in the San Francisco Bay area.

AP - 4 Gang Rape Suspects Set to Appear in Court
Police believe as many as 10 people ranging in age from 15 to mid-20s attacked the girl for more than two hours in a dimly lit area. As many as two dozen people witnessed the rape without notifying police.

Dara Cashman, head of the Contra Costa District Attorney's Office sex crimes unit, told the Contra Costa Times, a Bay area newspaper, that those who witnessed the alleged rape and did not report it could face aiding and abetting charges if it can be proven that their actions facilitated or goaded the perpetrators.

Police hope a $20,000 reward will bring more people forward with information.

Police received a tip about a possible assault on campus from a former student, who heard two males bragging about it. Officers found the girl semiconscious and naked from the waist down near a picnic table.

Margarita Vargas, who was watching television Saturday night with others at her home two blocks from the school campus, told the newspaper she reported the assault as soon as she heard about it. The newspaper did not say whether Vargas was a student at the school.

"They think it's cool," Vargas said of the alleged perpetrators. "They weren't raised to respect girls."

Gagan said the victim, a sophomore, left the dance and was walking to meet her father for a ride home when a classmate invited her to join a group drinking in the courtyard. The girl had consumed a large amount of alcohol by the time the assault began, police said.

Gagan said the girl's father tried to call her cell phone, but no one answered.

She was released from the hospital Wednesday.

Copyright 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON IN THIS WORLD?????

missfee said:

This happened 10 minutes from where I live

bboy87 said:

I know right??? So fuckin' sad...

but they caught another one, so we're up to 5 lifers now...

I saw that on CNN, and you know what, I have no pity for them whatsoever. They deserve to be charged as adults. They are getting just what they deserve. I'm pissed that the taxpayers have to pay for their meals, room and board, for the rest of their lives, but at least these animals will not be out to hurt another human being.
[Edited 10/29/09 11:22am]

2elijah said:

I hope they charge them as adults too. I don't understand how the male race has this in them to be so evil.

The thing that is puzzling me is if the girl called her father to come pick her up, she goes outside to wait for him, then some classmate convinces her consume a large amount of alchol and 10 people assaulted her for 2 hours.....you mean to tell me that the father didn't have enough sense to get his behind out of the car and go looking for on on the school grounds when she didn't answer her phone???? This is puzzling the hell out of me. What was her father doing those two hours? Did he go back home???? I don't get it.
[Edited 10/29/09 11:39am]

I don't get this!!!! It pisses me off to no end!

It really makes me sick to my stomach and heart. I know it sounds horrible but I want each and everyone of them to get raped so that they can see what it feels like.

This story changes with every news channel. I heard that it was up to 20 males who attacked this poor girl and there were plenty onlookers. She will probably never be right in the head. This goes beyond violation of one's person, this is torture and dehumanization and bondage. They ought not to get bail, visitors (outside of their attorneys) and should have the full weight of the law laid upon them.


Deepak Chopra was talking about this type of behavior being rested in the "reptilian" or primitive portion of the human brain, which in my mind does not bode well for evolution of our species. However, when you consider this analysis, animals are not even as cruel to one another as humans are to their own kind.


These barbarians committed this horrific act because they felt entitled to do so. I mean she was clearly lured to this alley so I'm thinking they had her targeted. This occured at a homecoming dance which is a perfect opportunity for thugs who want little adult supervision/intervention impeding them from preying upon their victim (s). The fact that they also used a "foreign" object to violate her shows that there was some hatred of this girl. Best believe they vaginally and anally raped her hence her being only naked from the waist down.


I wouldn't be surprised if this all started simply because she said "no" to one of these monstrous bullies.


I give a and say a for the death of her innocence and ability to ever trust a male outside of her family again.

And just to clarify, because I didn't know before I became a Paralegal, foreign object can mean a finger too.

I don't know what's worse...the crime or the fact that a number of shallow fuckers witnessed it and did nothing, not even call the police.

Shameful!!!!

MIGUELGOMEZ said:

I think here in Cali they say "digital penetration" or something to that effect but when they say "foreign" object they mean just that, e.g. bottle, knive, stick etc. There was a case many years back where a woman was raped with a knife. The guy broke into her home. She had to have surgery. They said "foregin" object but you didn't find out it was knife untill trial time.

This story messes me up every time I hear about it...

missfee said:

I saw this on TV,and I truely believe that the people that just stood there,and watched should be arrested as well. How the hell do you JUST STAND THERE while a 15 yr old or anyone for that matter is being raped!?

EmeraldSkies said:

I would risk getting my ass beat to get that child out of harm's way.

SupaFunkyOrgangrinderSexy said:

From what I hear, they are being charged as adults, and I hope that scares some of these kids, knowing they can be charged as adults before committing a crime, and following some idiots they think are their friends. Seems to me they're not raised properly at home. They do it to impress their friends. Idiots. If it is one thing my parents taught their 9 kids, it was never to be a follower.
[Edited 10/29/09 14:02pm]

This situation makes me sick. when I heard about it the first thing I thought of was my niece who attended her homecoming dance the week before. When they are in high school, you drop them off at the dance at the school and all is well right? Seems this is not ture. This has shaken me to my parental core.

I have used this story as a teaching point to my at risk adolescents. I reinforce the buddy system, the "don't be the drunk at the party" and only trust those you know when going into risky situations but preferably don't go into risky situations. I have especially spoken with my girls this week.

I am not blaming this poor girl, but undoubtedly some will eventually, when the horror of the situation has subsided and the blaming the victim mentality slinks in. I too, asked where her dad was since the story was she left the dance to go and meet him a block away, but I doubt that was true. It seems to me that she trusted the wrong person, was lured to this place and things went horribly wrong from there. I remember the self doubt of adolescence, of being happy when that boy you liked said he wanted to spend time with you, and trying to be "cool" and please him in front of his friends. This of course is all supposition on my part, but this scenario is a likely one and plays out very often. I hear it too often when working with my "kids" that party. Of kids who are victimized and too afraid or ashamed to tell because they were drunk or high and under age.

I pray for this baby, I pray that she learns to trust her instincts again, to realize that she was horrbly victimized and even if she made a mistake in judgement that she in NO WAY deserved or caused this to happen to her.

I pray for this baby and for the families of the perpetrators who today are wondering "Where in the hell did I go wrong?"

I pray for all of us who need to sit and talk with our children to tell them what the right thing to do IS. To live right and to show them, and not to assume that they KNOW that if they see something terrible happening to tell someone.

This is tearing me apart, I can't begin to imagine how her family feels. I hope she gets all the help she needs.

It's one thing to freeze and do nothing, it's an entirely different thing to participate in such a heinous act. It wasn't enough to rape her, they beat and robbed her!

This story makes me sick to my stomach. I hope they catch everyone of them and charge them as adults.

they need to be killed.

DesireeNevermind said:

I don't know... killed or raped daily for life...

MIGUELGOMEZ said:

Her father must be doing everything in his power not to go on a killing spree in that neighborhood cuz you know those monsters are part of the community.


I would do like Sam Jackson did in "A Time To Kill" and just wait outside the courtroom and blasts all of them to soup!
[Edited 10/29/09 16:07pm]

RenHoek said:

I like this good vs. evil emoticon.

DesireeNevermind said:

yes that's true...but what was the father doing for those two hours while she was being brutalized????

Omg the more I hear and read this story, the angrier I become. What is up with the total disregard for each other, and the sociopathic nature that is prevalent in the next generation? It seems more and more that the ages of 16-21 are prime for committing heinous crimes. As far as I'm concerned throw the book at everybody involved and present. I'm tired of bystanders not doing anything to stop a situation. That poor child.

missfee said:

If my child didn't pick up the phone after 10 minutes I would be out patrolling and checking with her friends to find her. I mean it's Richmond for chrissakes. That city got crime like a muthafugga. I been there twice and couldn't wait to GTFO.

funkyslsistah said:

And they took pictures of the rape. What the hell were they planning? They actually thought they could torture this girl then make money off of it. I think the popularity of drugs and porn and reality TV have warped the minds of younger people. They just don't give a fuck about anything and have no decency whatsoever.

DesireeNevermind said:

Richmond is no joke. I used to be a case manager for childcare in SF, and I worked with Contra Costa families. Everytime I went out to Richmond to meet with families or pick up cases, I made sure to stay on the main roads and just get in and out with a quickness. In the fall and winter when it got dark earlier, by the time the last client left around 7, we were bolting back to the city.