15 yr. old Gang Raped During Homecoming Dance in Richmond, CA

[hipmama]

Update: One of 6 gang-rape suspects to be freed

One of six suspects arrested in the gang rape of a 15-year-old girl outside Richmond High School's homecoming dance will be released after prosecutors declined to file charges, authorities said Friday.

Salvador Rodriguez, 21, was expected to be freed from Contra Costa County Jail in Martinez late Friday after prosecutors concluded there was insufficient evidence to file charges against him in connection with Saturday's attack.

Five other suspects remain in custody.

Cody Ray Smith, 15, of San Pablo; Marcelles James Peter, 17, of Pinole; and Ari Abdallah Morales, 16, of San Pablo are juveniles being charged as adults. They all face felony counts of rape in concert and penetration with a foreign object. Morales also is charged with felony robbery for allegedly stealing the girl's jewelry.

Manuel Ortega, 19, of Richmond is charged with rape in concert, robbery and assault causing great bodily injury. He is being held on $1.2 million bail.

The four young men were arraigned Thursday, but only Smith entered a plea - not guilty.

The most recent suspect to be arrested, Jose Carlos Montano, 18, was taken into custody Thursday afternoon near his San Pablo home. Montano was booked on felony charges of rape, rape in concert with force, and penetration with a foreign object. His bail was set at $1.3 million.

Prosecutors will decide Monday whether Montano should be charged.


Source Link: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/articl...BAR01AD19F.DTL

[carousel eyes]

Originally Posted by buzzytoes

I really don't get the whole mob mentality of hanging out and just doing nothing. Do they really lack that much common sense that there is not some kind of warning bell going off in their head?? Even if they wanted to "protect their rep" someone could have texted someone to call the police.

It's what I said in my post.

This kind of community has a rough and tough, brotherhood mentality. There's a certain unwritten code about snitching and ruining someone's rep. People don't want to be the next one to get hurt, so they keep their mouths shut. And also the Bystander Effect leads people to think that someone else is bound to call for help so they don't have to do anything.

[vbskull]

I read about this and it makes me so sick. A sane person could not just sit and watch this happen. She was raped for 2 HOURS!! Where were the security people?? Wasn't it there job to patrol the school grounds. The fact that they installed dummy cameras in a high crime area is absurd. Everyone probably knew they didn't work. I am so disturbed from this and so many news stories lately. I am a paranoid person and people wonder why....

[omgsweet]

http://www.sphere.com/2009/10/30/cri...ys-answered%2F

Cries for Help Not Always Answered

(Oct. 30) -- A girl is gang raped outside a California high school, and an entire nation asks one question: How could this happen?

The details from police, so far, remain sparse: up to 10 possible attackers, up to 10 more witnesses, a 15-year-old victim and an attack that lasted more than two hours on the grounds of Richmond High School the night of the homecoming dance in the school gym.

The sad truth is that crimes like these, where witnesses fail to report or intervene in very public violent crimes, are well known to legal and psychological experts. The incidents, which happen more often than most people probably realize, illuminate troubling tendencies in society at large.

Staying away isn't always a bad thing, said Tod Burke, a former police officer turned college professor at Virginia's Roanoke College. A Good Samaritan rushing to aid a victim in the midst of a crime could end up needing to be rescued as well.

The law is ambiguous. In some jurisdictions, if a witness encourages the illegal act, he can be held just as responsible as the person who committed the physical crime. But failing to report the crime -- out of fear or groupthink or any other reason -- remains a gray area, with different jurisdictions differing on the legal responsibility of witnesses.

And the truth is, similar cases likely happen far more often than most people realize.

"We only hear about the celebrated cases," Burke said. "What about the cases that occur every day and action isn't taken?"

He's witnessed the effect personally -- in his own classroom as a college student in the 1970s. A girl in a hallway cried for help, and no one in his class moved. It was a setup, the professor said, and the students admitted they thought someone in the hall would help the girl. Others assumed that if an authority figure didn't move to help -- in this case, the professor -- then they didn't need to, either.

Later they claimed they knew all along that it was a hoax.

Sometimes people do step up. In the Massachusetts bar case, two men helped the victim as she staggered, mostly naked, from the bar. One of them, reliving the case earlier this month with The Herald News, said he picked up a rod and started after the men who were running from the bar to their cars.

In 2007, three female college soccer players said they saw a young girl on a bed in a room with a group of male baseball players. A ballplayer told them to mind their own business, the women told ABC News, but they broke down the door anyway and pulled the half-naked girl from the room. No charges were filed in the case. Prosecutors said there were too many witnesses who had too much to drink -- so they couldn't prove their case. But that spurred the women to continue speaking out.

"People always say, 'If I was there I would've done something,' " Burke said. "Would you really? Would you really have done something? We don't know."

[xostephie]

This is just so awful....

what really made me more heart broken was the report that the men arrested "all face felony counts of rape in concert and penetration with a foreign object."

This poor girl. I just cannot even fathom what they did to her.

[pinkinthecity]

Quote:

Rape frenzy On the night of the attack, the victim left the homecoming dance at about 9:30 p.m., before it ended, and walked to the back of campus to call her father to pick her up, detectives say. That's when someone invited her into the notorious courtyard. The group of about a dozen boys and young men was already well into 2 gallons of vodka. After they liquored up the girl with brandy, they proposed sex, according to several accounts by friends of those who were there but asked not to be named for fear of retaliation. The girl said no. Some of the men placed her on one of the two red cement benches set alongside the main brick building of the school and said they were going to have sex anyway, according to the accounts. "They had her down on the bench and the bitch tried to kick 'Tweak' (one of the men) in the nuts," said one young man, who said he had a first-hand account of the attack from Smith but was afraid of being named. "He went off on her, started hitting her, and then it was on. They pulled a train (a gang initiation-style rape, one after the other) on her." What ensued was 2 1/2 hours of beatings and raping, at times with a foreign object. The scene attracted onlookers, some calling others over by cell phone, and eventually there were as many as 10 men or boys sexually assaulting the girl while another 20 looked on, laughing and snapping pictures. Teachers and students were searching last week for at least one video that many said was filmed of the attack. The rape finally stopped, around midnight, after students at a house down the block heard of what was going on and called police. The girl was found, semiconscious, beneath a picnic table. "Her face was purple and blue and she wasn't moving when they finished and ran," said Eraclio Lopez, 23, who lives nearby and ran over when the police cars rolled up. "I guess those kids thought what they did was tight, was cool. But it was terrible." The girl was released from a hospital Wednesday, but her recovery has only begun, police Lt. Mark Gagan said. "This was a barbaric crime, and I find it hard to wrap my head around the fact that so many watched and didn't report it," Gagan said. "That poor girl will have a lot of healing to do." This was not the first time the churchgoing sophomore had hung out with the wrong crowd, said one educator who asked not to be named for fear of offending school district sensitivities. That has caused anguish for not just her but the advisers who helped her over the past couple of years, "She really is a smart girl, but it's not always easy to fit in," the educator said. "I think she can be a little naive, and she's been harassed by guys in the past who took advantage of her when she tried a little too hard." Source: San Francisco Chronicle

Awful, awful, awful. I absolutely cannot fathom the kind of fear the girl undoubtedly experienced.

[kristie]

Originally Posted by xostephie

"all face felony counts of rape in concert and penetration with a foreign object." This poor girl. I just cannot even fathom what they did to her.

Just FYI, "Penetration with a foreign object" in any sexual assault case is usually a finger(s). The CA Penal Code states that ANYTHING inserted is to be deemed a"foreign object."

This is just a horrible case....unfortunately, I am not shocked or surprised. Richmond is an absolute dump and a waste of space on the map IMO. That poor girl is going to need a lot of love and support and counseling.

[doreenjoy]

The most dangerous situations involve a woman alone, alcohol, and a group of "bonded males" -- be they a gang, a sports team, a fraternity, or a poker circle.

It happens everywhere, and as someone posted above, when alcohol is involved charges are rarely filed because no one can remember jack.

My heart goes out to this girl, and to all the other girls at her school who must be living in fear because of this attack.

[Jahpson]

Originally Posted by NYCBelle

society is in the crapper!! what is wrong with people??? call the police anonymously but do something!!! this reminds me of "The Accused" just horrific!!

goodness, I was thinking about that movie as well

[Charles]

This was brought up over on a car forum I frequent. Some of the responses were appalling.

[natalie78]

I just don't understand the mentality of some people. I cannot stand by and watch someone be victimized. I just can't do it. How can a person ignore cries for help and still sleep at night?

[Cami725]

This is just horrible; my heart goes out to the victim and her family. It will be a long time before she recovers from this nightmare, if she ever will...

[doreenjoy]

Originally Posted by Charles

This was brought up over on a car forum I frequent. Some of the responses were appalling.

Sometimes the anonymity of the Internet brings out the worst in people.

[natalie78]

Originally Posted by proactive

well it is in the male nature(even in animals) to do so since past but it is really really bad for humans to follow it.

It is male nature to do what? Rape? Talk bad about rape victims? Defend rapists? I'm not following you.

[Jahpson]

^ thats what Im talking about, more information please