View Single Post
  #2  
Old 03-29-2011, 10:57 AM
Jeanfromfillmore's Avatar
Jeanfromfillmore Jeanfromfillmore is offline
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Oct 2009
Posts: 4,287
Default

Police: Older girl lured child to gang rape
The last suspect connected to the gang rape of an 11-year-old girl earlier this month was arrested Monday by investigators, who said an older girl lured the victim to a Moreno Valley park restroom where the crime took place.
Michael Sykes, 19, was arrested Monday morning at a home in Moreno Valley. A known gang member, Sykes was the only adult investigators believe participated in the March 10 rape of the girl. The other seven arrested are juveniles.
Sykes is originally from Los Angeles, investigators said. He has no prior criminal record, according to Riverside County Court records and investigators said he may not have led the rape.
Another girl, who police identified as a gang affiliate, saw the 11-year-old at a shopping center at Iris and Lassalle avenues at about 6 p.m. and they went to Victoriano Park together. The older girl lured the victim into a restroom at Victoriano Park where Sykes and six boys, also gang members, were waiting, police said.
The victim returned to the shopping center about 9 p.m. and reported the attack to police, who believe the girl was a random victim.
"It appears they were looking for a victim and lured her back to the waiting males," said Lt. Chad Bianco, who oversees investigators at the Moreno Valley sheriff's station. "I don't know about motivation. I just want to say that it looks like that gang lifestyle and gang activity."
The girl who brought her to the park in southern Moreno Valley and the boys were arrested on suspicion of sexual assault and booked into Juvenile Hall. Police have not identified the juvenile suspects or released their criminal histories because they are minors, but investigators said they are all older than 14 and could be charged as adults.
Sykes was charged with four felonies related to the rape, the Riverside County Sheriff's Department stated in a news release Monday evening.
The gang is based in Moreno Valley and has a history of other violent crimes, Bianco said.
As news of the rape spread Monday, Moreno Valley police were busy investigating two unrelated homicides elsewhere in the city.
Moreno Valley Mayor Richard Stewart said the city is safe and lauded detectives for making arrests in the rape investigation.
"The resources are out there, this isn't a crime wave," Stewart said. "Gang members are uncivilized people. They don't seem to have respect for human beings ... The fact that anyone could consider this behavior something a gang would be proud of, is beyond me."
Investigation guarded
Police waited two weeks to publicly announce the crime because they were still trying to locate Sykes and other suspects. Announcing the rape any earlier may have caused witnesses or the suspects to flee the area before the arrests were complete, Bianco said.
"Our biggest priority is solving this investigation and if we put out that we were looking for gang members, they'd go back to hide out," Bianco said. "We don't think there was any immediate danger to any other kids. We had to make sure we could ensure justice for this little 11-year-old girl."
Victoriano Park sits adjacent to Victoriano Elementary School, across the street from houses on Los Cabos Drive and just behind a subdivision. Posted hours show the park open from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m., with lighting along the sidewalks.
The small park, less than 100 yards from the school, is at the end of a soccer field and is made up of picnic tables and grill pits. The restrooms where the crime took place are about 50 feet from houses on the other side of a brick wall.
Parents cautioned
Monday morning, several parents were still unaware of the attack more than two weeks ago. Susie Rice and her 9-year-old daughter Amanda rode bikes through the park. She said the community should have been told of the incident immediately.
"It's horrifying," Rice said. "I don't see how nobody could have stopped that."
Rice planned to continue to visit the park but said she never lets her daughter go anywhere alone.
The rape serves as a reminder for girls not to walk alone and to be aware of their surrounding, Bianco said. He added that parents should play a major role in supervising their children at all times. He called the rape part of the "idiotic gang mentality."
"I don't think in any way it could have been prevented. There are always victims and people preying on victims," Bianco said.
"I absolutely refuse to believe parents don't know their kids are in a gang. It's despicable and shocking to think parents would allow their kids to be part of this," he said.
http://www.pe.com/localnews/stories/...9.1ad6114.html
Reply With Quote