Written by Janet
A fifteen year old girl has been charged as an accomplice in the gang rape of her seven year old sister. Police believe the older sibling was paid for having sex with multiple partners Sunday night during a party at the troubled Rowan Towers apartment complex, and that she then sold her sister to others at the party.
Capt. Joe Juniak, commander of the department’s Criminal Investigations Bureau, said he expects there to be many arrests in the case and he expects them imminently. Juniak noted that the girls were not full-blooded sisters. He said they were either half-sisters or stepsisters, but whatever the case, they were still raised as sisters.
Juniak said police were initially called by the girls’ family because they believed the 15-year-old had run away from home and that she took the younger girl with her. He said the 15-year-old had exhibited some behavior problems in the past.
Police officers were at the family’s home that night after 9 p.m. when the 7-year-old returned without her older sister, and she told her mother that she had been raped, Juniak said. Police later located the 15-year-old, who relayed the same details regarding what had happened at the party, and she was arrested and charged.
The party took place in a 13th-floor apartment in the complex at 620 West State St., where the 15-year-old met up with a couple of male acquaintances. He said the older sister then had sex with several party-goers for money in a bedroom, while leaving the younger girl unattended in the living room. The older sister visited the 7-year-old in the living room and handed her a wad of money, telling her to let the assembled men and boys have sex with her.
After the assaults, Juniak said, the 7-year-old got dressed and left the party, while her older sister stayed behind. Two unidentified individuals found the young girl crying outside, and they took her to her home nearby on West State Street, where police had already gathered. The Rowan Towers complex has been the center of controversy lately with an increasing number of violent crimes reported there.
The 15-year-old sister has been charged with complicity in an aggravated sexual assault, criminal restraint, terroristic threats, endangering the welfare of a child, and promoting prostitution. She was held in the Mercer County Youth Detention Center.
Trenton detectives are working with investigators from the Mercer County Prosecutor’s Office, and the state Division of Youth and Family Services is involved with the case.
Juniak said there appear to have been 12 to 15 people at the party throughout the night, and detectives are searching for anyone who may have been there. He said charges could be brought against everyone, not just those physically involved with the rape of the 7-year-old.
newsdeskinternational
/ 04/01/2010““““““““““Update“““““““““““`
Mayor: 27 arrested in NJ where girl raped
Twenty-seven people were arrested Thursday on outstanding warrants at a New Jersey apartment complex where officials say a 7-year-old girl was gang raped.
Trenton Mayor Doug Palmer said the sweep of Rowan Towers was planned before the girl’s attack. He said police hope the arrests will lead to tips that help them find those who assaulted the girl, otherwise the arrests were unrelated to the case.
“This is only the beginning,” Palmer said. “We’re not going to rest until that area is cleaned up so that decent people can live without the threat of fear and violence.”
Police say the child’s 15-year-old stepsister sold her to have sex with as many as seven men and boys at a party Sunday in a vacant apartment. The stepsister was arrested and charged with aggravated sexual assault, promoting prostitution and other crimes.
The teen’s name was not released because of her age, but the county prosecutor plans to ask the court to try her as an adult.
Police believe as many as a dozen people were at the party and say everyone in the apartment when the rape occurred could be legally culpable. There were security cameras at the complex and police said they were reviewing all available building surveillance videos.
Dani
/ 04/01/2010Abusers of children don’t need trials.
newsdeskinternational
/ 04/01/2010Police ramped up their investigation Thursday into the case of a 7-year-old girl who they say was gang-raped by a group of men while her 15-year-old stepsister watched and got paid for it.
Police conducted a pre-dawn raid at the troubled public housing complex, a high-rise apartment building so dangerous that officers are hired as security guards at night.
Hours before, they arrested a 20-year-old Trenton man on charges he had sex with the teenager in one of the apartments.
Gregory Joseph Leary was booked Wednesday night on charges of statutory rape and endangering the welfare of a child. Under New Jersey law, the 15-year-old is too young to consent to sex.
Leary was being held Thursday in jail on a $200,000 cash bond. Jail officials said Leary does not have a listed attorney.
Police said they are investigating whether Leary was involved with the rape of the 7-year-old at a party Sunday night in the apartment complex down the street from the Statehouse.
On Thursday morning, police arrested 27 people on unrelated outstanding warrants during a sweep of Rowan Towers. Trenton police Capt. Joseph Juniak said the raid was planned before the girl’s attack but that it was “somewhat beneficial for investigators” looking into the child rape.
Many of those arrested Thursday were women who told The Associated Press the warrants were for minor infractions.
Residents said the assault was clearly at the forefront of police officers’ agenda during the raid.
Tair Rivers, 27, said officers yelled, “What happened to the little girl?” as they arrested her for outstanding parking tickets.
Rivers lives in 13-H, an apartment right across from 13-C, where the party occurred. She said she was not home over the weekend but would not hesitate to tell police if she knew something.
“We all got kids,” Rivers said. “If we knew something, we would tell.”
Police believe as many as a dozen people were at the party and said everyone in the apartment when the rape occurred could be legally culpable.
At the party, the 15-year-old starting having sex with several men for money and then gave the younger girl some cash to let a group of men touch her as she looked on, police said. It soon escalated to rape and the men threatened to kill the child if she screamed or told anyone, according to police.
Police are reviewing surveillance videos at the complex.
According to police, the teenager and the 7-year-old were outside in the neighborhood Sunday when the older girl ran into two young men she knew who invited her to the party. The 7-year-old wanted to tag along because she was worried about the older girl’s safety.
The girl later put on her clothes and left the apartment; her older sister stayed. Two women found the child crying outside the apartment and walked her home.
The teenager’s name was not released because of her age, but the county prosecutor plans to ask the court to try her as an adult. It was not clear who was representing the girl in juvenile court.
Interstate Realty Management Company, which manages the 15-story building, said about 150 people live there, and many of the apartments are vacant.
The raid Thursday sends a message, Trenton Mayor Doug Palmer said.
“This is only the beginning,” Palmer said. “We’re not going to rest until that area is cleaned up so that decent people can live without the threat of fear and violence.”
New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie on Thursday called the incident “deplorable” in his first public comments on the crime that occurred in the shadow of the New Jersey Statehouse.
newsdeskinternational
/ 04/03/2010UPDATE
5 charged in gang rape of girl, 7, in NJ apartment
Two men and three teenage boys were charged Saturday with gang-raping a 7-year-old girl who was sold by her 15-year-old stepsister during a party at a crime-ridden apartment building in the state’s capital, police said.
Details of the arrests were announced at a Saturday evening news conference outside police headquarters. Police Director Irving Bradley said detectives had been working around the clock since the crime was reported March 28.
“We did get a lot of cooperation from the community, which helped break this case,” Bradley said.
Those arrested included Gregory Joseph Leary, 20, in custody since Friday, when he was charged with having sex with the 15-year-old. The other four are Timear Lewis, 19, and boys ages 13, 14 and 17. Each was charged with aggravated sexual assault and child endangerment.
Prosecutors likely would seek to try all of them as adults, Mercer County prosecutor Joseph Bocchini said.
The suspects, who were to be assigned public defenders, were being held Saturday night and couldn’t be contacted for comment. There was no telephone listing for Lewis; a telephone for a G. Leary had been disconnected.
The case shocked residents of the gritty Rowan Towers apartment building, where three of those arrested live, police Capt. Joseph Juniak said.
Building management has stepped up its security presence there and promised additional safety measures. Residents have expressed skepticism that the apartments would become safer.
Police say the 15-year-old girl went to a party with some men at Rowan Towers on March 28 and the younger girl tagged along because she was worried about her stepsister’s safety. They say the 15-year-old sold sex to men and boys there, then took money to let them touch the younger girl. They say the touching turned to forcible sex as at least seven men raped the 7-year-old.
Additional arrests are expected, police said.
Before Saturday’s arrest announcement, the 15-year-old had been charged with promoting prostitution, aggravated sexual assault and other crimes. Police have not released her name, and she remained in juvenile detention Saturday night.
Mayor Doug Palmer, who met with the 7-year-old girl and her family in his office on Thursday, described their ordeal as a “torment.”
“They’re in a safe place right now,” he said. “I would ask that the community embrace this family – they are going through a lot.”
Palmer gave the girl a stuffed bunny rabbit for Easter. He said the family is getting counseling and indicated it may be permanently relocated away from the city.
He credited the police force for its hard work but said the investigation into “this heinous crime” isn’t done.
“We’re not finished because everyone who is responsible is still not arrested,” he said. “The police will not rest until we get every individual who was involved in this.”
Police earlier in the week urged residents to come forward, but neighbors said they were scared of retaliation from gangs that prowl the streets if they spoke up.
Rowan Towers sits on a stretch of West State Street near downtown Trenton and is surrounded by blocks of abandoned, boarded-up homes.
City Councilwoman Annette Lartique, who represents the area where the crime occurred, said the high-rise has been plagued by crime.
Besides the parents and the 7-year-old, Palmer met with a grandmother, two younger children and other relatives.
“They were understandably upset,” Palmer said. “They felt like they were victims. They said, ‘People are blaming us.’ We need to stop pointing fingers at the family members. These rapists are the problem, not the family.”
Of the girl’s parents, the woman is the mother of the 7-year-old girl, and the man is the father of the 15-year-old. They two have toddlers together.
Keith Smith
/ 04/03/2010May this little 7 year-old girl get the help she needs to grow up healthy, strong and safe.
In 1974, I was abducted, beaten and raped by a recidivist, pedophile predator with a history of sex crimes and prison time. Although he was arrested and indicted for what he did to me, he never went to trial. He never went to trial because he was brutally beaten to death in the streets of Providence, Rhode Island in 1975.
35 years later, no one has ever been charged with his murder.
The novel, Men in My Town, is my story. A story inspired by actual events.
Men in My Town by Keith Smith.
http://www.MenInMyTown.wordpress.com
newsdeskinternational
/ 04/08/2010NJ dad defends 3 accused in rape of daughter, 7
The father of a 7-year-old girl police say was gang-raped is defending three of the men accused.
The father said Thursday that the three men tried to get his daughter out of the apartment where she was attacked. He says they were kept from helping by others who held them at gunpoint.
The Associated Press does not identify sex crime victims and is not naming the father so as not to identify his daughter.
Police say the girl was prostituted out by her 15-year-old stepsister, who watched as she was raped by as many as seven men and boys at a party March 28.
The father’s comments came after 20-year-old Gregory Leary was ordered held on $500,000 bail. He is among those the father is defending.
newsdeskinternational
/ 04/08/2010Attorney disputes NJ girl’s gang-rape account
The attorney for one of five suspects accused of gang-raping a 7-year-old New Jersey girl says the child was not raped.
Attorney Robin Lord suggested Thursday in court that the girl was pressured to give a false account of what happened at a party.
Lord is representing 20-year-old Gregory Leary, who was ordered held on half a million dollars’ bail.
Leary is also accused of statutory rape and endangering the welfare of a child. Trenton police say he also had sex with the girl’s 15-year-old stepsister.
Police say the stepsister sold the child to have sex with as many as seven men and boys at a party in a vacant apartment. The stepsister has also been arrested.
A 19-year-old and three juvenile teenagers also are charged with the girl’s rape.
newsdeskinternational
/ 04/09/2010Bail has been set at $300,000 for a second man accused of participating in the gang-rape of a 7-year-old girl in New Jersey.
Nineteen-year-old Timear Lewis made his first court appearance by video link Friday. He is charged with aggravated sexual assault and endangering the welfare of a child.
His public defender says Lewis isn’t a flight risk.
Trenton police say the child was sold by her 15-year-old stepsister for sex with as many as seven men and boys. The stepsister also faces charges.
Besides Lewis, Gregory Leary is held on half a million dollars’ bail. Three boys ages 13, 14 and 17 are also charged.
The child’s stepfather claims Lewis, Leary and the 17-year-old actually tried to help the girl.
newsdeskinternational
/ 06/08/2010DA: No DNA found on 7-year-old gang-raped in NJ
Preliminary DNA tests found no evidence of semen on a 7-year-old New Jersey girl who police said was gang-raped after her stepsister sold her for sex.
The lack of DNA evidence will not cripple the state’s case against two men and three teenagers who have been charged with rape, Mercer County Assistant Prosecutor Jennifer Downing wrote in a court document obtained by The Associated Press. The stepsister, who is 15, also is charged as a juvenile with promoting prostitution, aggravated sexual assault and other counts.
“The majority of the state’s sexual assault cases are prosecuted without the benefit of (DNA) evidence,” Downing wrote. Prosecutors have said they have physical evidence, such as injuries to the girl that are consistent with sexual assault.
Downing also said the state will not seek to try the three teenage boys and the stepsister as adults. The prosecution also consented to a judge reducing bail for the two adults – 19-year-old Tiemare Lewis and 20-year-old Gregory Leary – to $75,000 each. Bail had been $300,000 for Lewis, $500,000 for Leary.
Lewis’ lawyer, Jason Hageman, said a judge approved his client’s bail reduction and granted him a probable cause hearing, scheduled for Aug. 10.
“My client is innocent. And he looks forward to the day he’s exonerated,” Hageman said. “Sometimes justice takes a long time but it’s worth the wait.”
Leary’s lawyer, Robin Lord, has not agreed to the $75,000 offer for her client and is requesting an even lower amount, because Leary’s family cannot afford it.
The 7-year-old was pressured to give a story that is inconsistent with what happened at a March 30 party, Lord said, and should be grounds for a dismissal.
“The case is hardly as solid as the police originally leaked,” Lord said. Without the DNA evidence, “you have an ethical obligation as a prosecuting authority to seek justice, not just a conviction.”
Police say the stepsister sold the 7-year-old child to have sex with as many as seven men and boys at the party. The stepsister is said to have had sex with Leary, and he told police the 15-year-old said she was 18.
Shemika Leary, Gregory Leary’s sister, told the Associated Press on Tuesday that her family would sue the state if her brother is acquitted, especially considering there is no DNA evidence implicating him.
“It went nationwide that he raped a 7-year-old girl,” Leary’s sister said. “They said he did it. So they took the words ‘innocent until proven guilty’ and just threw it in the trash.”
In April, the 7-year-old’s stepfather defended Leary, Lewis and a 17-year-old boy accused in the case, claiming the three tried to get the girl out of the apartment. He said they were kept from helping by others who held them at gunpoint.
The Associated Press does not identify sex crime victims and is not naming the stepfather so as not to identify the 7-year-old.
The prosecution has offered plea deals to the juveniles in exchange for their testimony against the adults. Downing said she wants to resolve the juvenile cases before offering plea deals to the adults.
newsdeskinternational
/ 08/15/2010Vows for justice in NJ child rape falling short
The allegations were unthinkable, the outrage immediate, justice promised: A 7-year-old girl had been handed over to a group of men and boys by her older 15-year-old stepsister and gang-raped.
http://home.peoplepc.com/psp/newsstory.asp?category=National&id=20100815/f16c508d-a0d6-45a9-a51e-a023a4f553e1
Janet
/ 04/02/2011Probation for man charged in NJ child sex case
A New Jersey man initially accused of participating in the alleged gang-rape of a 7-year-old girl after her 15-year-old stepsister sold her for sex has been sentenced to probation.
http://www.mynorthwest.com/category/national_news_articles/20110210/5th-deal-accepted-in-alleged-NJ-child-rape-case/
Janet
/ 04/13/2011Only adult pleads not guilty in Calif. gang rape
The only adult charged in the gang rape of an 11-year-old Southern California girl has pleaded not guilty.
http://www.mynorthwest.com/?nid=15&sid=452666