4 Charged in Gang Rape, Beating of Girl After Homecoming Dance - Local News | News Articles | National News | US News - FOXNews.com

4 Charged in Gang Rape, Beating of Girl After Homecoming Dance - Local News | News Articles | National News | US News - FOXNews.com

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Four teens arrested in the alleged vicious gang rape and beating of a 15-year-old girl outside her high school homecoming dance could spend the rest of their lives in prison — and police expect to catch more suspects.

The four — ages 15, 16, 17 and 19 — were charged Wednesday with rape and enhancements that they acted in concert, which could make them eligible for life in prison.  Contra Costa County Deputy District Attorney Dara Cashman said the three juveniles, whose names she hasn't released, have been charged as adults.  "These are people who played a significant role in the incident," Richmond Police Lt. Mark Gagan said. "I'm confident that more arrests will be made.  "Besides rape, the 19-year-old, Manuel Ortega of Richmond, was charged with robbery and assault causing great bodily injury. It was unknown if he had an attorney.  The other three face one count each of felony rape with a foreign object. They were charged as adults because of the severity of the crime, Gagan said. The 16-year-old also faces robbery charges.  A fifth suspect arrested Tuesday, 21-year-old Salvador Rodriguez of Richmond, was jailed along with the other four Wednesday but has not been charged.  "We believe there are three or four more we can arrest," Gagan told Fox News on Thursday.  The alleged gang rape and beating Saturday night at Richmond High School have rattled the city of about 120,000 in the San Francisco Bay area.  Police believe as many as 10 people ranging in age from 15 to mid-20s attacked the girl for more than two hours in a dimly lit area. As many as two dozen people witnessed the rape without notifying police.

Cashman, head of the Contra Costa District Attorney's Office sex crimes unit, told the Contra Costa Times, a Bay area newspaper, that those who witnessed the alleged rape and did not report it could face aiding and abetting charges — if it can be proven that their actions facilitated or goaded the perpetrators.  But under California law, witnesses to the gang rape cannot be charged with a crime if they idly watched it take place.
Police hope a $20,000 reward will bring more people forward with information.  Police received a tip about a possible assault on campus from a former student, who heard two males bragging about it. Officers found the girl semiconscious and naked from the waist down near a picnic table.  Margarita Vargas, who was watching television Saturday night with others at her home two blocks from the school campus, told the newspaper she reported the assault as soon as she heard about it. The newspaper did not say whether Vargas was a student at the school.

How in the world can anybody stand by and just watch this happen?  Oh my god there was a movie I remember that Jodie Foster played a victim of gang rape and it ripped me to the core.  People simply amaze and baffle me on how stupid they can be, to not assist the innocent, and not help.  I guess they figure if they don't think about it, it didn't or doesn't happen.  I have no idea what this world is coming to.  Life is short as it is and I would treat another child as if they were my own as I would want someone to actually help and treat mine as their own if at all possible.  I know this world doesn't exist like that and it's so sad. The evils will comsume the majority of the innocent leaving what kind of world?