Thread: ICE issues detainers for 5 rape suspects

How awful!

Such a tragic sad story.
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Farm laborer pleads guilty in sex assault

By JOHN MARTINS Staff Writer, 856-794-5114
(Published: December 18, 2007)
BRIDGETON - A 20-year-old Mexican farm laborer, the youngest in a group of five friends charged with the sexual assault and abduction of a Millville teenager, pleaded guilty Monday to one sexual assault charge.

Edson Leonte, who was living in a trailer at the Brookside Farm in Hopewell Township at the time of his arrest, appeared before Superior Court Judge John Waters to admit his role in the crime. He pleaded guilty to second-degree sexual assault in exchange for a five-year prison sentence.

According to prosecutors, Leonte and four friends - Oscar Lopez, 24; Raul Chasares, 25; Alfonso Ponce, 21; and Vicente Rodriguez, 26 - met the 13-year-old victim at a discount variety store in Bridgeton on Aug. 31, 2006.

They asked her to go fishing with them, prosecutors said, and the child, who had run away from home and was en route to visit her grandfather in Bridgeton, willingly went along.

Prosecutors believe three of the men - Leonte, Ponce and Rodriguez - penetrated the girl while she was with them. Prosecutors said all five, who worked together, gave her alcohol.

The victim, who prosecutors previously described as being developmentally challenged, was found at the Cumberland Mall in Vineland the next day. A neighbor from Millville spotted the girl and notified mall security.

Lopez and Chasares have pleaded guilty to a count of child endangering. Ponce, in a court appearance last month before Waters, was sentenced to five years in prison.

Rodriguez was the only suspect to have been indicted on a second-degree sex-assault charge. He is currently in pretrial negotiations with prosecutors.

The federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency has placed a detainer hold on all five men, meaning they will likely be deported after serving their prison sentences.

Leonte, however, must undergo a psychological evaluation at the state's Adult Diagnostic and Treatment Center in the Avenel section of Woodbridge before he is sentenced.

www.pressofatlanticcity.com

Illegal immigrant sentenced to 3 years for sex assault
Saturday, May 03, 2008
By MATT DUNN

BRIDGETON -- The last of six illegal immigrants charged with picking up a 13-year-old girl at an Irving Avenue dollar store, then sexually assaulting her multiple times before she turned up 24 hours later, pleaded guilty Friday.

Vincente Rodriguez, 26, of Hopewell Township, pleaded guilty to third-degree endangering the welfare of a child in exchange for a three-year prison sentence.

Rodriguez, a Mexican citizen, admitted through a Spanish-speaking translator to Superior Court Judge Richard Geiger that he fondled the victim's breasts during the August 2006 abduction.

"Did you have an encounter with a girl under the age of 16?" Geiger asked.

"Si," Rodriguez replied.

Rodriguez was originally offered a plea deal of eight years in state prison if he pleaded guilty to sexual assault.

Earlier in the day, 19-year-old Edson Leontes was sentenced to a state prison term after pleading guilty earlier this year to aggravated sexual assault in the case.

Both Rodriguez and Leontes were farm laborers at Brookside Nursery, in Hopewell Township, one of three locations where prosecutors believe the underage victim was assaulted.

The owner of the nursery reported to the News in 2006 that both men signed working papers claiming they are in the country legally.

Rodriguez's attorney said Friday that an immigration detainer was placed on Rodriguez by federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement, in addition to the five other men charged in connection with the incident.

"I explained to (Rodriguez) the exposure to deportation at the end of his prison sentence," said Louis Shapiro, of Vineland.

Raul Chasares, 24, and Oscare Estrada Lopez, both of Bridgeton, pleaded guilty last year to third-degree endangering the welfare of a child in connection with the incident.

Chasares admitted supplying the victim with marijuana and alcohol and Lopez admitted having sexual contact with the victim.

Alfonso Ponce, 20, of Bridgeton, admitted sexually penetrating the victim. He pleaded guilty to second-degree sexual assault last year and was sentenced to five years in state prison.

www.nj.com

If there was any sex involved, it probably wasn't forced, he concluded.

This kind of thinking makes me sick to my stomach. She's 13 years old !!
That poor little girl. How many casualties will there be, before officials give a damn ?

I am completely disgusted they gave these illegal aliens such small punishment for gang rape of a 13 year old.

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http://www.alipac.us/article3156.html