METRO VANCOUVER - There has been another arrest in connection with the brutal gang rape of a 16-year-old girl in Pitt Meadows early Saturday morning.
Ridge Meadows RCMP say they arrested an 18-year-old man on Thursday in connection with the case and are expecting to charge him with sexual assault.
However, those charges have not yet been laid and the man has since been released from custody on conditions.
This is the second arrest in the case, after a 16-year-old boy was arrested earlier by police for photographing the assault and uploading the photos to Facebook.
He is expected to face charges of distributing child pornography but those charges have not yet been laid...
While only two people have been arrested in the assault so far, police say between five and seven males participated in the attack, which lasted about 20 minutes.
"Our investigators are being extremely thorough in this investigation. We have interviewed a number of people who were at the party, but there are still many people police need to speak with and we still want these people to come forward," RCMP Insp. Derren Lench said in a written statement Friday. "We have made this second arrest. There is still much follow-up we should do before that charge will proceed."
http://www.vancouversun.com/news/Police+make+second+arrest+relation+gang+rape+that+went+viral+Internet/3540366/story.html
Witnesses describe horrific gang rape of 15-year-old girl in Richmond, Calfornia
November 1st, 2009
The San Francisco Chronicle reports that the young victim attended church and wanted to be a police scout but at the same time "worried counselors by trying too hard to please the school's bad boys."
As the girl left a homecoming dance at Richmond High School on Saturday, October, 24, at about 9:30 p.m., she accepted an invitation by a group of young men to hang out in a darkened courtyard. The group was a mixture of bad boys, bad boy wannabes, and hardened grown up bad boys who had aged out out of school, the paper reports.
As many as 10 young men and boys participated in the rape while another 20 looked on, the Chronicle reports. After the girl became drunk on brandy, they proposed sex but she said no. But the young men placed her on one of the two red cement benches in the courtyard and said they were going to have sex with her anyway. The beating and gang rape followed after the girl tried to kick one of the men in the groin. The attack lasted 2 1/2 hours.
Four teens were charged in the alleged gang rape and beating of a 15-year-old girl outside of her high school homecoming dance. All four, ages 15, 16, 17 and 19, who will be charged as adults, were charged with rape and enhancements that they acted in concert, which could make them eligible for life in prison.
http://www.examiner.com/sf-in-san-francisco/witnesses-describe-horrific-gang-rape-of-15-year-old-girl-richmond-calfornia
Seventh Arrest Made in California Teen's Gang Rape
Richmond, Calif., Police Now Have Six Suspects In Custody After One Was Released Last Week
By EMILY FRIEDMAN
Nov. 3, 2009—
A seventh suspect was arrested today in the brutal gang rape of a 15-year-old girl outside her homecoming dance last month.
A 21-year-old man was picked up by heavily armed police at Richmond, Calif., home early today, according to Richmond Police Lt. Mark Gagan. A special tactical team was used to apprehend the suspect, according to Gagan, because the "brutality and severity of the crime" made him a "high risk suspect." He surrendered without incident.
The suspect, whose name has not yet been released, is being held in lieu of $1.2 million bail and is being interrogated by police.
According to Gagan, the individual's arrest warrant alleges rape in concert, sexual battery and penetration with a foreign object in concert.
"You can tell by the number of felonies and how high his bail is that we believe that this individual played a significant role in the rape," Gagan told ABCNews.com.
Richmond Police have now arrested seven people in connection with the assault, but have only six in custody.
Salvador Rodriquez, 21, was released from custody late last week due to "insufficient evidence," according to Gagan.
Even with the latest arrest, Gagan said that still more suspects are being sought out in connection to the case.
"This case is far from over," said Gagan. "We are still waiting for the analysis of the DNA evidence which takes several weeks."
The parents of the 15-year-old California girl who was sexually assaulted by as many as 10 men and teens outside a high school homecoming dance Oct. 24 released a statement this weekend asking that the incident provoke change at the school.
"Please do not respond to this tragic event by promoting hatred or by causing more pain," said the statement from the victim's parents, read by Rev. Jim Wheeler of the First Presbyterian Church in Richmond, Calif.
"We've had enough violence already in this place," read Wheeler. "If you need to express your outrage please channel your anger into positive action."
Late Thursday night, police arrested 18-year-old Jose Carlos Montano in connection to the rape.
"Montano played a significant role in what happened to our victim and his arrest was an important one," said Gagan.
Montano, who is being held on $1.3 million bail, is charged with rape, rape in concert with force and other charges, according to Gagan.
Four others have been formally charged, including three juveniles who will be tried as adults. Prosecutors have said they will seek life sentences for the suspects. Because they are being tried as adults, ABC News has decided to identify the suspects.
The suspects include Manuel Ortega, 19, Marcelles James Peter, 17, Abdallah Morael, 16, and Cody Ray Smith, 15.
The gang rape took place in a remote part of the school's grounds while the homecoming dance was taking place. The area, according to a close friend of the victim, was known as a secluded area where couples at the school would often congregate.
Lights have since been added to the area, according to ABC's KGO-TV in San Francisco.
As many as 20 bystanders are believed to have watched without intervening and may have even filmed or photographed the attack.
A $20,000 reward is being offered by the Richmond Police Department to anyone who can provide information leading to more arrests in the case.
The victim of the attack is a devout Christian who attended church three times a week and whose friends say had been looking forward to the homecoming dance for weeks.
Kami Baker, one of the victim's close friends, said the girl came to the dance clad in a sparkling purple gown, diamond necklace and matching silver shoes.
"When we walked in the dance together she said, 'I can't wait to get my dance on!'" Baker, 16, told ABCNews.com.
But what began as a night the teen girls were looking forward to, soon became a nightmare.
"She was perfectly sober at the dance," said Baker, who saw the victim just 15 minutes before she left the dance. "She was bubbly, and kept saying how happy she was to be at the dance."
She described her friend as an outgoing student who was enrolled in an honors English class. Although she had wanted to join the school's photography club, her parents didn't like her to stay after school and her church commitment took up much of her time.
http://abcnews.go.com/WN/seventh-suspect-arrested-california-gang-rape/story?id=8985453
Witnesses to the Richmond, California, gang rape describe the horrific scene
November 10th, 2009
Salvador Rodriquez, 21, says he was the only one who tried to help the girl outside the Richmond High dance on October 24.
"Nope, I did not rape her," Rodriguez told ABC-7 reporter Cecelia Vega in an exclusive interview. "I did not beat her. I did not rob her. I did not rape her. I was trying to help her. That's all I want people to know."
Rodriquez told ABC7 that he was skateboarding in the area where the girl was raped and saw that a group had formed in a poorly lit courtyard outside the school.
"They were kicking her in her head and they were beating her up, robbing her and ripping her clothes off; it's something you can't get out your mind," he said. Rodriguez added that after the attack was over, he tried to comfort the girl and covered her in his t-shirt.
Another witness, a 16-year-old boy who spoke anonymously. told ABC7: "She was pretty quiet; I thought she was like dead for a minute but then I saw her moving around, I was like, 'Oh,'"
He says he never called police because he did not have a cell phone, and he was scared. He said he watched for 15-20 minutes and wanted to help her out but didn't.
Rodriguez said he knew at least one of the attackers and tried to prevent the group from taking pictures of the girl on cell phones.
Rodriguez said he wishes he could have done more, but now he fears being labeled as a snitch. He is friends with one of the suspects in custody.
"People say, 'Why didn't I call the cops,' but at the same time, I live in Richmond, a neighborhood like this, snitching is something you don't do, you know, I mean I have to walk down the streets now in fear of my life," Rodriquez told ABC7 News.
http://www.examiner.com/sf-in-san-francisco/witnesses-to-the-richmond-california-gang-rape-describe-the-horrific-scene-video
Gang rape raises questions about bystanders' role
October 28, 2009|
By Stephanie Chen, CNN
"Genovese syndrome" was coined after dozens watched or heard a killer attack Kitty Genovese and did nothing.For more than two hours on a dark Saturday night, as many as 20 people watched or took part as a 15-year-old California girl was allegedly gang raped and beaten outside a high school homecoming dance, authorities said.
As hundreds of students gathered in the school gym, outside in a dimly lit alley where the victim was allegedly raped, police say witnesses took photos. Others laughed.
"As people announced over time that this was going on, more people came to see, and some actually participated," Lt. Mark Gagan of the Richmond Police Department told CNN.
The witnesses failed to report the crime to law enforcement, Gagan said. The victim remained hospitalized in stable condition. Police arrested five suspects and more arrests were expected.
So why didn't anyone come forward?
Criminology and psychology experts say there could be a variety of reasons why the crime wasn't reported. Several pointed to a problematic social phenomenon known as the bystander effect. It's a theory that has played out in lynchings, college riots and white-collar crimes.
Under the bystander effect, experts say that the larger the number of people involved in a situation, the less will get done.
"If you are in a crowd and you look and see that everyone is doing nothing, then doing nothing becomes the norm." explains Drew Carberry, a director at the National Council on Crime Prevention.
Carberry said witnesses can be less likely to report a crime because they reinforce each other with the notion that reporting the crime isn't necessary. Or, he says, witnesses may think another person in the crowd already reported the incident. The responsibility among the group becomes diffused.
"Kids learn at a young age when they observe bullying that they would rather not get involved because there is a power structure," Carberry adds.
The phrase bystander effect was coined in the 1960s after people watched or heard a serial killer stalk and stab a woman in two separate attacks in the Queens neighborhood of New York.
Kitty Genovese struggled with the attacker on the street and in her building. She shrieked for help and was raped, robbed and murdered. When witnesses in the building were questioned by police about why they remained silent and failed to act, one man, according to the 1964 New York Times article that broke the story, answered, "I didn't want to be involved."
http://articles.cnn.com/2009-10-28/justice/california.gang.rape.bystander_1_bystander-crime-prevention-kitty-genovese?_s=PM:CRIME
Details of the attack are horrifying. Police believe as many as seven young men took turns raping the semi-conscious girl over a two-hour period. As many as a dozen others saw the attack outside Richmond High School and did nothing. The San Jose Mercury News reports some of these individuals joined in, laughed, and even took pictures of the brutal assault.
"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," said Lt. Mark Gagan, a patrol supervisor in the city's Northern Policing District. "What makes it even more disturbing is the presence of others. People came by, saw what was happening, and failed to report it."
Police were finally notified when word of the attack spread to a party in a nearby house. One party-goer was appalled by what turned out to be more than just a rumor, and thankfully, finally, this person was the one only one who did the right thing, and called police.
http://www.opposingviews.com/i/arrests-made-in-disturbing-gang-rape-of-california-teen
Reflections on the Gang Rape In Richmond, California
Author: Lynn Rodriguez
Nov 02, 2009
When I first heard about the 15-year-old girl who was repeatedly raped and beaten for more than two hours by as many as ten young males while another ten bystanders stood watching, laughing, and videotaping the violent attack, I had to stop and ask myself what is this world coming to?
Have we become so insensitive to violence? Where is our moral consciousness? Have violent films, video games, and virtual reality dulled not only the younger generation, but all of us – so much so that observing the sufferings of another human being is nothing more than watching a character on a flat-screen TV?
Where were the heroes that night? Where was that one voice that could have turned the tide? One voice that could have stood up and said, "Hey guys! Enough! Let her go – she could be your kid sister, your cousin, your niece." Yet....
....no one did.
Instead, one after another, they continued to commit numerous sex acts upon this young girl, they beat her, they robbed her, and the spectators continued to simply watch the attack. What about the classmate who invited her over to where the rape occurred? Did he have this planned? Was he the instigator?
When all was said and done, did anyone go up to the girl to see if she was all right? No! After their two-hour rampage, they left this young girl under a bench half-naked, beaten, and unconscious. The brutal assault on her required that she be airlifted and admitted in critical condition to a nearby hospital.
The articles that I've read quoted experts who tried to find excuses for why no one helped this young girl. They say the witnesses were probably afraid of snitching, or afraid of retaliation from the others. I say, if just one of them had an iota of morality, he could have very easily left that dark secluded place behind the school and gone back into the gym to alert the authorities, or a teacher or parent.
Instead, several did leave. Did they go back to the Homecoming dance as if nothing happened? No. Far worse than that. They went back to tell others to come out and watch what was happening.
Years ago as a kid I remember hearing about the Kitty Genovese murder. I could not comprehend how she was brutally attacked and murdered and no one did a thing. She cried out for help as she was being attacked in the street and was fighting for her life. Someone yelled from a window to leave her alone and the attacker fled. But when he saw that no one was coming to her aid, he returned to continue the assault into her apartment building. Although a number of people heard portions of the attack, no one picked up a phone to call police.
I can understand how people might be afraid to get involved for fear of losing their own life, but I can't understand for the life of me how people who would be in no danger picking up their telephone in the safety of their home, preferred to turn up their television sets or their radios to drown out the screams because as one coward said, "I didn't want to be involved."
What was so despicable in human behavior 45 years ago seems to have become the norm in today's society. Do we ask ourselves, if we continue to spiral downward, what will life be like 45 years from now? Something has to be done to stop the madness! A good place to start is with those guilty of this brutal crime in California. I say throw the book at all of them who were involved and lock them up for a long time!
I'm not forgetting about those males who didn't physically participate, but participated as a spectator nonetheless. I say they too need to be reprimanded and held accountable for their behavior, and if they're not – then not only shame on them, but shame on us as a society to let that happen.
http://blogcritics.org/culture/article/reflections-on-the-gang-rape-in/
A 43-year-old man is being charged in the disturbing gang rape of a California girl by ten men while an estimated 20 people stood idly by and watched.
43-year-old John Crane Jr. turned himself in to police Tuesday after being identified last week as a suspect in the crime of the Richmond high school student.
Police describe him as an “ex-con with a violent history.”
I am not suggesting people that see these rapes happening should try to kill anyone but c'mon-there were how many people watching?
Gang rape photos ‘added insult to injury,’ says girl’s father
By Douglas Quan,
Postmedia News
September 17, 2010
PITT MEADOWS, B.C. — Police in this quiet Vancouver-area suburb have said it is one of the most disturbing sexual assault cases they have ever seen.
Yet, the alleged gang rape of a 16-year-old girl at a techno music-infused rave party — and the viral distribution of photographs of the incident in cyberspace — drew surprisingly strident dismissals from some of the girl’s peers on Friday.
Mariah Schultz, 17, a student at Garibaldi Secondary School in neighbouring Maple Ridge, said it was terrible that photographs of the incident were posted online. But, she said, the police and the media have completely misinterpreted what took place that night.
In her opinion, the embarrassment of seeing the photos plastered all over Facebook prompted the girl to allege assault.
“It makes me angry. She’s ruining these other people’s lives,” she said, referring to the alleged perpetrators.
Fellow student Jeannette St. Germain, 16, who also attended the rave, agreed.
“It’s frustrating to us. Police are just listening to what she’s saying.”
The insinuations drew an angry response from the girl’s father.
“Absolutely stupid,” he told Postmedia News Friday from the driveway of the family’s home, which is nestled among tall trees.
Pacing back and forth with his arms crossed, he said his daughter was essentially re-victimized after the photos went viral.
“The Internet has added insult to injury tenfold,” he said. “People need privacy to heal.”
He said it was “unfathomable” to him that young people can think they can post pictures like that without consequences.
“For me it’s unbelievable in this day and age, youth are so de-sensitized to crime and pornography,” he said. “The naivety of those kids is so sickening.”
His daughter — whom he described as witty and beautiful and having a strong personality — is receiving counselling, he said.
His family has found some comfort, he said, in seeing how aggressively police are pursuing the case.
On that front, police announced a second arrest Friday. An 18-year-old Maple Ridge man was arrested on Thursday and released under certain conditions.
Police are recommending sexual assault charges against him.
A 16-year-old boy, accused of taking the photographs of the assault and distributing them online, was arrested on Tuesday. He faces possible charges of producing child pornography.
Police say more arrests are likely.
The Facebook-publicized rave party, dubbed “Another night in Bangkok,” happened last Friday night at the back of a rural private property and involved more than 100 teenagers from the area.
Reached by phone, Jared Deptuck, 18, who says he helped oversee the rave, called the event a “successful night,” and said he is “100 per cent convinced” that no crime occurred at the party.
Deptuck, who said he was interviewed once by the police, said he and others were carefully monitoring the crowd for trouble and weren’t afraid to boot people out if necessary.
“There wasn’t a single problem.”
According to those who attended, partygoers danced to loud, thumping techno music played by a DJ inside a Quonset hut located at the rear of the property. Scores more spilled onto a grassy field outside the hut. The booze was flowing.
“It was a good party, it was fun,” said 14-year-old Michael Cardarelli.
Though they are still awaiting toxicology results, police say the girl was likely drugged before she was assaulted.
The grassy area surrounding the hut Friday was strewn with debris: flattened beer containers, a used condom wrapper, empty cigarette boxes, a cooking pan with a mysterious yellow liquid.
The hut — which featured a black-painted swastika — was mostly empty, save for a discarded black sweatshirt.
Another rave party, dubbed “A night in Bangkok,” was held at the same location one week before. Police said they were aware of the first rave but not the second one.
The owners of the property, who live off-site, could not be reached for comment Friday.
The girl’s father urged the other alleged perpetrators Friday to come forward.
“Don’t hide if you don’t feel you’ve done anything wrong. Come forward,” he said.
He also urged parents to talk to their children about the dangers of attending such events and about booze and drugs.
“It’s a very dangerous world — well beyond what we thought,” he said. “It’s not easy being a parent these days.”
Not all students in the community said they are attracted to such parties.
Jaycee Affeldt, 17, said she prefers to spend her free time playing competitive softball.
Neither are all students dismissing the 16-year-old girl’s story.
Affeldt said she sent a note to her on Facebook offering her support.
“I’m not judging. It’s sick,” she said. “It makes me hate living in Maple Ridge. It’s almost embarrassing. I feel terrible for her
http://www.vancouversun.com/news/Gang+rape+photos+added+insult+injury+says+girl+father/3541878/story.html
Father of gang rape victim speaks out
Says his daughter has seen the controversial pictures
Rob Freeman Sep 17,
PITT MEADOWS (NEWS1130) - The father of 16-year-old girl who was gang raped at a rave in Pit Meadows last weekend is pleading with other parents to help stop the photos of the assault from spreading further on the web.
The graphic photos have been distributed on social networking sites, and the police have not been able to stop them from going viral so far. The father who preferred to remain anonymous told CTV News Vancouver, "I want to appeal to all the parents out there to look at their kids' computers and cell phones, delete these pictures if they have them, and not for the fear of being arrested for distributing child pornography, but because it's a moral and ethical thing to do."
He says this experience is debilitating for him. "I would not want to see any parent have to go through this with their daughter. It's life changing. It's something that is going to be with us for the rest of our lives."
He says his daughter doesn't remember much about the attack, but she has seen the pictures.
http://www.news1130.com/news/local/article/103451--father-of-gang-rape-victim-speaks-out
