Police: Men Gang-Raped Disabled Girls
Victim's Mother Says Girl Has Cerebral Palsy
POSTED: 12:24 pm EST October 28,
2002
UPDATED: 7:02 pm EST October 28,
2002
SOMERVILLE, Mass. -- Three men were ordered held on bail Monday on charges they gang-raped a 17-year-old girl who is deaf and suffers from cerebral palsy and her 14-year-old friend.
NewsCenter 5's Jorge Quiroga reported that prosecutors alleged that the three men and at least three others attacked the girls in Somerville's Foss Park last Thursday. The mother of one of the victims said that she believed the incident was gang retaliation.The three suspects -- Jose Oritz, 20; Carlos Miguel Escobar, 18; and Jesus Pleitiz, 18; all of El Salvador -- hid behind a court partition as prosecutors detailed the charges.
"This case involves the rape of two young women, one aged 14, one aged 17," Assistant District Attorney Marian Ryan said. "Both of these young women are deaf."The alleged victims went to a Dunkin Donuts at about 7 p.m. Investigators said that the two were approached by the suspects, and the girls left. The suspects allegedly followed the girls to the park, where they were allegedly raped, prosecutors said.The mother of one of the alleged victims said that the three suspects are gang members who were picking on her son. She said that the boy's father confronted the three men Thursday."And the day that he did that, they raped my daughter," Darlene Squires said. "That night, they retaliated."The three men pleaded not guilty. Escobar and Ortiz were ordered held on $50,000, and Pleitiz was ordered held on $100,000 bail.
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