Three accused of raping woman, 71, in Silver Spring



By Dan Morse

Tuesday, March 30, 2010

Montgomery County prosecutors are preparing to try three men in the daytime rape of a 71-year-old woman behind a dumpster in a Silver Spring parking lot.

The men, ages 25 to 47, were being held Monday in the Montgomery jail on bonds of at least $1 million each, according to jail officials.

Shortly before noon Jan. 20, a motorist called 911 to report seeing a woman being dragged across a parking lot in the 11200 block of New Hampshire Avenue. Police found the woman partially clothed and on the ground near the dumpster, according to statements written by a detective to obtain charges against the men.

The woman appeared intoxicated and semiconscious, and one of the suspects said later that all four had been drinking together earlier in the day, according to court records.

At the scene, the caller told police that he saw two of the men drag the woman to the dumpster and place her on the ground, with the third man following them, according to the charging documents.


While two men stood watch, a third pulled a trash can in front of the group, the witness told police. The witness said he got out of his vehicle and walked toward the trash cans, prompting the 25-year-old suspect who was assaulting the woman to leave, according to charging documents.

The first suspect, identified as Jorge L. Ruiz, 47, said he knew that Cristobal A. Coreas, 25, intended to rape the woman, according to charging documents. Ruiz told police that the men had been drinking with the woman earlier that day at a shopping center.

Coreas admitted to police that he was "by the dumpsters with his pants down," but the charging documents do not indicate whether he said anything else.

The third suspect, identified as Jose Mauricio, 31, denied knowledge of the incident, according to the charging documents.

The woman was taken to Shady Grove Adventist Hospital in Rockville, where her blood-alcohol level registered 0.322, according to charging documents.

The woman said that she did not remember the incident and that she never consented to having sex with any of the suspects. Police described the woman as a "physically helpless victim" and charged the men with conspiracy to commit first-degree rape and first-degree rape, according to court records. Attorneys for the suspects either could not be reached Monday or declined to comment.

Immigration officials have placed a detainer on Mauricio, according to jail officials, meaning that he might be in the United States illegally and could be deported after any legal action in the rape case.

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