Thread: Teens held over homecoming dance gang rape UPDATED

Back in the 60s, in a small town in Fla. we had a cop with a gun at our dances until one night while the cop was bent over trying to break up a fight on the floor and one of the other kids stole his gun right out of his holster. He didn't even know it was missing for 5 minutes because he was busy trying to hold both of the fighters.

They actually stopped the music and told everyone that whoever found the gun should return it, which brought the house down. Then they said that who ever found it should "slid it cross the floor and let someone else pick it up and return it, no questions asked". (Genius move?)

When that didn't work they made everyone file out the door single file and be searched. They still didn't find it so they said the dance was over, which started lots of problems outside the building so they let everyone back in and continued the dance just to keep everyone under control.

They said there would be no more dances, ever, unless the gun was returned.

Someone took the gun and wrapped it in old news paper and placed it in a phone booth just outside the city limits at 1:00 am. and called the cops and told them where they could find the gun so that the dances would go on. The dances continued but the cops weren't permitted to wear guns inside the building anymore.

Police: As many as 20 present at gang rape outside school dance

October 27, 2009 9:57 p.m. EDT

Richmond, California (CNN) -- Investigators say as many as 20 people were involved in or stood and watched the gang rape of a 15-year-old girl outside a California high school homecoming dance Saturday night.

Police posted a $20,000 reward Tuesday for anyone who comes to them with information that helps arrest and convict those involved in what authorities describe as a 2½-hour assault on the Richmond High School campus in suburban San Francisco.

Two teenage suspects have been jailed, but more arrests, as many as 20 total, are expected, according to a police detective.

"We will be making arrests continually as we develop probable cause," said Richmond Police Lt. Mark Gagan. "With this number of people implicated in the incident we're going to be making arrests on an ongoing basis."

As many as 10 people were involved in the assault in a dimly lighted back alley at the school, while another 10 people watched without calling 911 to report it, police said.

A 1999 California law makes it illegal not to report a witnessed crime against a child, but the law applies only to children 14 and under.

"We do not have the ability to arrest people who witnessed the crime and did nothing," Gagan said. "The law can be very rigid. We don't have the authority to make an arrest."

Charles Ramsey, a member of the Richmond school board, said the school district bears some responsibility for the attack. School administrators and police apparently weren't watching the area as they should have, Ramsey said.

The school said it would hold a safety meeting for parents and students Wednesday evening to address the assault.

The victim was found unconscious under a bench shortly before midnight Saturday, after police received a call from someone in the area who had overheard people at the assault scene "reminiscing about the incident," Richmond Police Lt. Mark Gagan said.

The girl was flown by helicopter to a hospital where she was admitted in critical condition. She was in stable condition Tuesday, police said.

Investigators canvassed the community with fliers, which included the reward offer, hoping to identify more suspects Tuesday.

"There is one individual in custody who has made some spontaneous statements that have led me to believe that he is culpable for what happened," Richmond police Lt. Johan Simon said.

Nineteen-year-old Manuel Ortega, described as a former student at the school, was arrested soon after he fled the scene and will face charges of rape, robbery and kidnapping, police said.

A 15-year-old was later arrested and charged with one count of felony sexual assault. A third teenager was being interviewed, Gagan said.

"Based on witness statements and suspect statements, and also physical evidence, we know that she was raped by at least four suspects committing multiple sex acts," Gagan said.

"As people announced over time that this was going on, more people came to see, and some actually participated," Gagan said.

The attack occurred on school grounds as the annual homecoming dance was under way inside the school Saturday night, authorities said

http://www.cnn.com/2009/CRIME/10/27/cal ... gletoolbar

Police arrest 4 in 2-hour gang-rape of teen outside homecoming dance

Police in Richmond, Calif., are conducting wall-to-wall interviews to arrest those responsible for the two hour gang-rape of a 15-year-old girl outside her homecoming dance while onlookers watched, jeered and took pictures with cellphones, the Contra Costa Times reports.

The newspaper says four people have now been taken into custody, including boys 15, 16 and 19 years old. A 21-year-old man has also been arrested.

"This is a fluid investigation," Detective Ken Greco tells the newspaper. "There will be more arrests."

The Times, in earlier reports on the incident, said the victim had drunk a large amount of brandy quickly after leaving the high school dance and became incapacitated.

"As many as seven people assaulted her as she lay on a bench, while others jeered, beat her, robbed her and took photos with their cellphones," the Times reports. "Police say they don't know how many people watched during the course of the attack, but some reports have said as many 20."

One boy, named Rubio, tells the paper that at one point some "dudes" came up to him on the street as the attacks were going on. "They said she was naked, and if you want to get f---ed, go back there," he said.

A high school student named Alexandra tells the paper that she called police "as soon as we found out."

Dara Cashman, of Contra Costa district attorneys office sex crimes unit, says witnesses who failed to report the crime could be charged with aiding and abetting if police can show their actions aided or goaded the attackers.

But passively watching a crime is not a crime, Cashman says, itself unless the victim is younger than 14.

(Photos: Crime scene, top, by Noah Berger, AP; Manuel Ortega, who has been charged with rape, by Richmond Police Dept., AP)

Posted by Doug Stanglin at 08:07 AM/ET, October 28, 2009 in Comments, Crime

http://blogs.usatoday.com/ondeadline/20 ... rl-ou.html

5 Suspects in Custody in Gang Rape, Beating of Girl After Homecoming Dance

Wednesday, October 28, 2009


Manuel Ortega, 19, is charged with rape, robbery and kidnapping in the vicious gang rape of a 15-year-old girl outside her homecoming dance.



Five suspects were in custody early Wednesday in northern California in the gang rape, robbery and beating of a 15-year-old girl outside her high school homecoming dance, KTVU.com reported.

Authorities in Richmond, Calif., said they arrested two adults and three juveniles and were searching for others believed to be involved in the alcohol-fueled attack Saturday night in a secluded courtyard on the grounds of Richmond High School.

Evidence suggests there may have been up to 10 assailants, Richmond Police Lt. Mark Gagan told KTVU.com, and the assault was likely witnessed by as many as a dozen people — some of whom laughed and snapped photos of the rape on cell phone cameras but did nothing to stop it.

"She was raped, beaten, robbed and dehumanized by several suspects who were obviously OK enough with it to behave that way in each other's presence," Gagan said earlier this week. "What makes it even more disturbing is the presence of others. People came by, saw what was happening and failed to report it."

More coverage at KTVU.com.

The Tuesday night arrests include a teenager from San Pablo; a 21-year-old Richmond man identified as Salvadore Rodriguez and a teenager from Pinole who surrendered to police after they went to his home with a warrant earlier in the day, KTVU.com said. The juvenile suspects are boys ages 16 and 17, police said.

Two others were arrested Monday: 19-year-old Richmond High School dropout Manuel Ortega, who was booked on $800,000 bail, and a 15-year-old male freshman.

The victim, who police say has been helping in the investigation, left the high school homecoming dance about 9:30 p.m. Saturday and was heading to meet her father for a ride home when a classmate invited her to join a group drinking in the courtyard.

Shortly afterward, the girl was allegedly robbed, beaten and gang-raped for more than two hours before police intervened.

Investigators believe the attack not only was carried out by as many as 10 people aged 15 to mid-20s but also was watched by up to 12 others and may have been videotaped and photographed with cell phone cameras, according to KTVU.com.

The victim had consumed a large amount of alcohol by the time the assault began, police said. When officers arrived at the scene, they found the girl semi-conscious near a picnic table. She is hospitalized with non-life-threatening injuries.

Authorities stepped up their investigation Tuesday night, sending a SWAT team out with arrest warrants. More arrests are coming, Gagan said.

"That list will increase, I expect, as we get people in custody, as they tell us what other people did and what they saw," he told KTVU.com.

The victim had been verbally abused by her classmates in the past, a student told the station.

“They used to make fun of her because she had a crush on a boy in class,â€

a 21-year-old Richmond man identified as Salvadore Rodriguez

WOW ANOTHER HUGE SURPRISE!!!!

I have been saying this over and over agian. If Hispanics consider themselves a race and play the race card then we should have crime stats on them. There are white and black hispanics as well so it could be divided again. Then people will see things for themselves. I know that many time when police have a be on the lookouts for crimes committed they will say white or black hispanic.

I always took a bit of offense when the non-Hispanic white description started being applied exclusively, meaning that description was accepted by government. And what exactly does it describe? A fake race!
Do Asians get asked if they are non-Sino Asian? No.

Originally Posted by vortex

I always took a bit of offense when the non-Hispanic white description started being applied exclusively, meaning that description was accepted by government. And what exactly does it describe? A fake race!
Do Asians get asked if they are non-Sino Asian? No.

White is not actually a race either. Causasian is a race, but includes some with skin that is not white (Spanish, Italian, South Asian etc). Hispanics are caucasian and mongoloid, generally speaking...unless they have full indigenous blood, in which case they are mongoloid (and not technically Hispanic in that case). White, Hispanic, Black, Even Asian are not races. Causasian, Negroid, and Mongoloid are the only races. Three races. So all those forms that ask for race and then give a multiple choice of black, white, hispanic and so on....are asking the wrong question, or at least providing the wrong multiple choice answers. What it should really ask is skin color, ethnic background or race, with the appropriate choices listed.

http://news.aol.com/main/nc/article/...37532#MustRead

Neil Smelser, a professor emeritus of sociology at the University of California-Berkeley, said Tuesday that the incident could be categorized as "bystander indifference."
"The questions become, 'Why didn't they do something moral to stop an immoral situation? Why didn't they behave morally by calling the police, telling school officials?'" said Smelser, who has written extensively on collective behavior.
"It's very likely that they didn't have any emotional or social ties to the victim," Smelser continued. "If they had any linkage to her, then maybe we'd have a different outcome."

Trujillo said there were four police officers and 15 school site supervisors monitoring the dance. He said there were no problems during the dance inside the school gym, calling it "a success." He said two site supervisors were allowed to leave because they felt they had enough security inside.

But Trujillo called the rape outside on school grounds a "tragic incident."

I wonder where the spectators morals were too.

7th Person Arrested in Gang Rape of Girl After Homecoming Dance

Tuesday, November 03, 2009

RICHMOND, Calif. — A seventh suspect has been arrested in connection with the gang rape of a 15-year-old girl outside a California high school homecoming dance.

Richmond Police Lt. Mark Gagan says a 21-year-old man was arrested Tuesday morning on suspicion of rape, rape in concert with force and other charges that could lead to life in prison if convicted.

Prosecutors have filed charges against five others in the case, including 18-year-old Jose Carlos Montano.

One of the suspects, 21-year-old Salvador Rodriguez, was released after prosecutors said there's not enough evidence to charge him.

Gagan says authorities are looking for more suspects. Investigators believe as many as 10 people participated in the Oct. 24 assault, and several others watched.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,571 ... c/us/crime