5 charged in gang rape of girl, 7, in NJ apartment

What in the hell in wrong with people????????

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5iKXxMr8bsqnMXwXSdngFnb7worpAD9ERTTKO0

TRENTON, N.J. — 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.




Copyright 2010 The
Associated Press. All rights reserved.

A horrific case and I'm glad they have begun making arrests. I was worried that people would stay quiet for fear of being snitches - it is sort of a housing project kind of building and giving evidence to police can sometimes be dangerous.

Poor child.

If that was my child, I would be locked up for the rest of my life because those guys would be dead. There are a few things I'm willing to spend the rest of my life in prison for and that one is at the top of the list. Zero excuse for what they did to that little girl.

....no zero excuse for the guys,but why is the 15 year old girl being charged as an adult as well?...obviously she is a victim as well ,i can't see any other reason why she would have done what she did...

claudicici wrote:....no zero excuse for the guys,but why is the 15 year old girl being charged as an adult as well?...obviously she is a victim as well ,i can't see any other reason why she would have done what she did...

She voluntarily prostituted herself to these men. She voluntarily sold her 7-year old step-sister to these men. Now granted, she only took money so these men could "touch" her little sister. The best defense is to say she only meant for them to touch her sister in a sexual way, not rape her. Not good enough. I'm glad she's charged as an adult. 15-years old is certainly old enough to know better.

Not all "victims" must turn around and victimize others. I don't think it gets them a get out of jail free card just because they might be a victim. That would not be fair to the victims who have the tenacity to turn their lives around and to resist doing to others what was done to them. 15 years old is old enough for her to understand the right and wrong of the actions - if she is old enough to form the "intent" then she is old enough to pay for the crime.

...ziggy you just said in the horrorcore effect on sam thread that 15 is not old enough by far...a 15 year old does not "voluntarily" prostitute herself and her sister...a 15 year old prostitutes herself because that 's what she knows and if that's what she knows she was victimize and if she makes that decision at 15 she's been victimized

When I refer to age I'm referring to parental intervention and supervision. I don't think kids make solid judgments when it comes to who they should call friends and what type of lifestyle they should paint themselves into. However, knowing right from wrong is different. She pimped out her 7 year old sister. Prostituting herself is a different issue for me. We don't know how she learned this behavior. Perhaps it was from not enough parental supervision, drugs etc. It might excuse her abuse of herself but not that of her little sister. There is a difference between making a decision between what is right and wrong/ acceptable and unacceptable and making more conceptual decisions such as getting into a bad group of friends and then being influenced into further bad decisions. I'm talking about conceptual judgments such as not allowing a minor to attend horrorcore concerts and associate themselves as an unholy apostle for anyone or any group in the horrocor thread. Here we have a minor who is acting on her own as an adult pimp - knowing the wrongfulness of the behavior and I would hold her to the standard that the law allows.

ziggy wrote:When I refer to age I'm referring to parental intervention and supervision. I don't think kids make solid judgments when it comes to who they should call friends and what type of lifestyle they should paint themselves into. However, knowing right from wrong is different. She pimped out her 7 year old sister. Prostituting herself is a different issue for me. We don't know how she learned this behavior. Perhaps it was from not enough parental supervision, drugs etc. It might excuse her abuse of herself but not that of her little sister. There is a difference between making a decision between what is right and wrong/ acceptable and unacceptable and making more conceptual decisions such as getting into a bad group of friends and then being influenced into further bad decisions. I'm talking about conceptual judgments such as not allowing a minor to attend horrorcore concerts and associate themselves as an unholy apostle for anyone or any group in the horrocor thread. Here we have a minor who is acting on her own as an adult pimp - knowing the wrongfulness of the behavior and I would hold her to the standard that the law allows.

I don't,....lol,I think this goes waaaaayyyyyyyy beyond "decision" making....this is not decision making
I assume this child is addicted to drugs,has been pimped out herself and if that is not so she has definetely been in an environment that did not protect her or teach her wrong from right....this is just completely disgusting ,do you guys really think this 15 year old that you consider an adult made a decision to let herself be gang raped ?
I've known kids as young as 13 that were on heroin and sold themselves because my friend worked at an outreach and I'd volunteer with her when I went back home,it's horrible...these kids are clearly victims and not decision making adults.
It's so unbearably horrible what happened to the 7 year old but her sister needs help....
not an adult sentence...

claudicici wrote:I don't,....lol,I think this goes waaaaayyyyyyyy beyond "decision" making....this is not decision making
I assume this child is addicted to drugs,has been pimped out herself and if that is not so she has definetely been in an environment that did not protect her or teach her wrong from right....this is just completely disgusting ,do you guys really think this 15 year old that you consider an adult made a decision to let herself be gang raped ?
I've known kids as young as 13 that were on heroin and sold themselves because my friend worked at an outreach and I'd volunteer with her when I went back home,it's horrible...these kids are clearly victims and not decision making adults.
It's so unbearably horrible what happened to the 7 year old but her sister needs help....
not an adult sentence...

You're making assumptions to. From the article, the 15-year old prostituted herself out to several men. I don't see where it says she was raped (except perhaps by statute). The article said she voluntarily went with the men. Regardless of the reason why she was willing to sell herself, I bet she still knew that pimping out her SEVEN YEAR OLD sister wrong. Maybe psychological treatment will be part of her adult sentence.

What do you think her sentence should be? If you fail to hold her responsible for her actions, what message does that send to the little sister?

.....she should go to a facility that deals with juvenile offenders not an adult one where she'll come out even more messed up then she's already is....I can not ,as hard as I try, understand why someone would think a 15 year old would make a sound adult decision and have sex with 7 guys for money yet it would be unlawful for that same 15 year old to make a decision to have sex with a 19 year old that she dated for a year...that guy would go straight on the sex offender registry because he had sex with someone that can not consent,yet that same someone is considered an adult when she pimps out her 7 year old sister and gets raped (wether or not she agreed,sorry,that's rape in my eyes) by a group of guys for money??????????

claudicici wrote:.....she should go to a facility that deals with juvenile offenders not an adult one where she'll come out even more messed up then she's already is....I can not ,as hard as I try, understand why someone would think a 15 year old would make a sound adult decision and have sex with 7 guys for money yet it would be unlawful for that same 15 year old to make a decision to have sex with a 19 year old that she dated for a year...that guy would go straight on the sex offender registry because he had sex with someone that can not consent,yet that same someone is considered an adult when she pimps out her 7 year old sister and gets raped (wether or not she agreed,sorry,that's rape in my eyes) by a group of guys for money??????????

It may not have been a "sound" decision -- in my and your opinion -- but it was a decision she made nevertheless. I cannot understand how someone could not hold a 15-year old responsible for pimping out her 7-year old sister. Usually an older sibling is protective of a younger sibling. The 15-year old tried to make money off of the 7-year old. She protested when the men started going beyond "touching" the little girl, so she obviously knew it was wrong for the men to have sex with the child. I can't imagine she didn't know it was wrong to allow them to "touch" the little girl. Seems to me that money was the motivating factor in selling herself and selling her little sister. I surely do not know how she could come out of prison more messed up than she is right now.

What is the cutoff age for you? If this girl was 18, would you protest her prosecution? Couldn't an 18-year old have the same issues as you say this 15-year probably has?

no,unfortunately the 18 year old would be an adult in the eyes of the law and beyond help...
I would not give up on a 15 year old,I believe with all my heart she can still be helped....unfortunately of course now the 7 year old will probably have the same issues,it would not surprise me if we hear she did the same thing about her 8 years later,it's a viscious circle ......

ok,if you guys thought this case can't get any sicker it just did...
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/nation/6950339.html
...this article infuriates me in so many ways,the 15 year olds dad is defending the perps!!!....I think this shows who the real "pimp" is ,this man needs to be arrested himself.
....and oh my god,the comments made by the rapists lawyer "the girls memory is tainted because she received toys and money"....he's pretty much saying the little girl made it up....

it's all starting to come out:...the father of the 15 year old is a registered sex offender
"he choked a 4-year-old boy and slammed him to the ground, slapped the buttocks and struck the face of a 7-year-old girl, and penetrated the vagina of a 5-year-old girl with his finger."
http://www.trentonian.com/articles/2010/04/09/news/doc4bbfa2c3e0e37212665512.txt

Ugh...it's all so sick and disgusting. The DNA will at least tell who was a perpetrator and who wasn't. Women who put men before their children should just dealt with harshly. I'm so tired of these kids not being protected by their own mothers!

....and aparently the 7 year old is still with this man ....I hope they investigate further....I feel it's likely she's been abused by this stepdad already....

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5iKXxMr8bsqnMXwXSdngFnb7worpAD9F37D1G0
Where is the moral compass? The legal question is who did what. My question is how did you get multiple people who either wanted to participate in this or in the alternative just let this happen to a child? It illustrates a complete disconnect from humanity.

Scott wrote:http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5iKXxMr8bsqnMXwXSdngFnb7worpAD9F37D1G0
Where is the moral compass? The legal question is who did what. My question is how did you get multiple people who either wanted to participate in this or in the alternative just let this happen to a child? It illustrates a complete disconnect from humanity.

That is what I wondered.

...so we have 5 disabled boys,barely even able to read or write,all young teenagers....we have 2 girls,age 15 and 7 .....and then we have a 20 year old who's being protected by the girls sex offender step dad/dad......he's not at least concerned about the fact that his 15 year old daughter had sex with this guy for money ,he's just upset that she took her little sister along......oh and this 20 year old was "trying" to help the 7 year old?...such bs...neither one of those little girls was a stranger to sex before this happened....it's so sad and so sick...