TX - 21 arrests in gang rapes of 11yo girl, Cleveland, 2010

[peeples]

To clarify (if we can trust this to be factual):

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110309...lYwN5bl90b3Bfc3RvcmllcwRzbGsDMThhcnJlc3RlZGlu

"...The investigation began Dec. 1 after a friend of the girl told a teacher he had seen the video of one of the alleged attacks, said SG, a spokeswoman for the school district in Cleveland, about 45 miles northeast of Houston.

The district's police chief questioned the girl and her mother and discovered the video had been shot off school property over the Thanksgiving Day holiday break. School district authorities were not able to recover any cell phones that had video of the alleged attack and the investigation was turned over to police...."

more at link


Does this strike anyone else as odd? The Police Chief interviewed the girl and her mother but the school was given the task of finding the cell phones? When they couldn't find them, school officials turned it back over to the police. Was someone buying a little time here?

My heart breaks for this victim. This is exactly what I was afraid of. So often prior victims seem to walk around with a flag flying saying "pick me, I've been a victim", while they are totally unaware of that "flag". The predators seem to be able to find them every time. It's so so sad.

VERY odd!! Someone was up to something.......

 

[jjenny]

VERY odd!! Someone was up to something.......

I don't find it odd that the school would be looking for the cell phones if the girl was a student there.

 

[peeples]

I don't find it odd that the school would be looking for the cell phones if the girl was a student there.

Me either except that.... that is the PD's job. Not the schools... especially with something as serious as this......

Seems like the case was being passed back and forth much like that poor baby was

 

[katydid23]

Dear God

"Court records allege the girl was raped on at least three different occasions last year. Besides the Nov. 28 attack, indictments in the case say there also were attacks on Sept. 15 and Oct. 25. Each time, at least two individuals were involved in the attacks."

So I now understand why she was taken out of the home. Someone needs to keep a closer eye on her and try and help her navigate the world.
Why would she go off with three 19 yr olds after having been raped twice before? I think she may be suffering from PTSD or something like that and she needs counseling services now.

 

[sfbaynancydrew]

Two critical looks at New York Times coverage of the case:

The New York Times' Rape-Friendly Reporting (Mother Jones)

The New York Times' sloppy, slanted child rape story (Salon)

Really great articles, really force you to examine gender bias. I have both daughters and a son. Teenage boys aren't known for the best judgment or impulse control, especially when the blood has left their brain, but even if one of them honestly made a mistake, they still committed a sex crime against a child and need to be charged with one.

It really is tempting to try to direct blame towards the mother for letting her 11 year old (!) roam the streets hanging out with older boys. I get how it's a survival instinct of trying to reassure ourselves that it wouldn't happen to our children because we "watch them". But it has nothing to do with the victim who, at some point was NOT promiscuous and basing her self-esteem on her sexuality. Obviously someone began raping her at a much earlier age and she became sexualized very early. She is truly a victim in every sense.

 

[peeples]

So I now understand why she was taken out of the home. Someone needs to keep a closer eye on her and try and help her navigate the world.
Why would she go off with three 19 yr olds after having been raped twice before? I think she may be suffering from PTSD or something like that and she needs counseling services now.

Attention maybe? Or maybe it wasn't the same guys??

Whatever the reason I'm positive she never intended to be raped by 18 men

I'm PERSONALLY having a hard time reconciling her parents just let her go with zero supervision. All the kids in the family are so successful and involved in extra curric. activities even this sweet baby is in talented and gifted programs where she's at now.... it just doesn't add up.......
Just my own mind wondering out loud

 

[sfbaynancydrew]

All the kids in the family are so successful and involved in extra curric. activities even this sweet baby is in talented and gifted programs where she's at now.... it just doesn't add up.......
Just my own mind wondering out loud

I wonder this too and wonder if this wasn't the mother self-reporting and, in the kindest of ways to put it, exaggerating the studiousness of her children.

I have a friend who does this all the time when it comes to her life. She knows exactly what people WANT to hear. But the reality of how she describes her life and children and the truth of what everyone else can see are vastly different.

Just a theory!

 

[tlcya]

SPECULATION ALERT:

It is entirely possible that this child was coerced into sex by one of these boys (perhaps the 19 year old who offered to take her for a ride on 11-28) on the prior two occassions. So if she hangs with this guy on 9-15 and again on 10-25 and engages in coerced sexual activity. This could explain her recently posting older sounding messages on her social sites and her suddenly wearing lots more makeup and acting older. She was hanging with an older boy who had her convinced she was either a couple with him or part of the in crowd because she is hangin with him.

It could also explain why this child was not concerned about taking off into a car with he and his two friends. Then she arrives at the blue house with white trim, and suddenly she is expected to take all comers.

This could also explain why she was reticent to report any of this, because she felt responsible, or somehow complicit. NOT SAYING SHE IS. Just saying she may have blamed herself or figured people would think she was a or trashy and brought it on herself.

Looks like she wouldn't have been far off if she did have that concern, based on the reaction in that town, all that concern for the perps :headshake:

T

 

[katydid23]

Attention maybe? Or maybe it wasn't the same guys??

Whatever the reason I'm positive she never intended to be raped by 18 men

I'm PERSONALLY having a hard time reconciling her parents just let her go with zero supervision. All the kids in the family are so successful and involved in extra curric. activities even this sweet baby is in talented and gifted programs where she's at now.... it just doesn't add up.......
Just my own mind wondering out loud

f course she didn't. I was just wondering out loud as well why she had so much freedom to be missing for 2 days at age 11. { if that part of the story is true]

 

[peeples]

f course she didn't. I was just wondering out loud as well why she had so much freedom to be missing for 2 days at age 11. { if that part of the story is true]

NO worries I didn't think you meant that at all
:Like i said i'm just thinking out loud..... this whole thing is just so horrible.... and to find out it had happened before....

My sweet heart cannot wrap my mind around this stuff..

 

[peeples]

it's easy to come to terms with the fact there are isolated individuals out there that do horrible things, murder, rape, abuse children...
but if the numbers are correct and census data is correct something like 1-2% of the towns population raped this poor baby.. that is more than just an isolated individual...

 

[sfbaynancydrew]

I have a friend who does foster care and she had a little seven year old in her care for a while who had been raped by her father since the age of 5 . The child had severe attachment disorders and was truly UNCOMFORTABLE to be around because of her inappropriate sexuality and weird touchiness. She would proposition men and older boys sexually, desperate for attention. She would latch on to women she thought were "pretty" and want them to be her Mommy, telling them she loved them several minutes after meeting them and asking them if they would adopt her---right in front of her foster mom. She was a sexual predators *dream*. A beautiful little red headed girl who was the tiniest little thing. My friend actually had to request she be moved to a different home because the girl was sexually harassing the 10 year old boy who was also in care. She was also explosively violent when she didn't get her way or was corrected.

I can TOTALLY see her behaving in a similar way at 11. Sometimes these poor little girls already have dead souls and either they are so desperate to try to feel wanted and loved or they just don't care and allow themselves to be degraded and used just to feel something.

Now I'm depressing myself.

 

[believe09]

Slightly O/T-I had a friend from school who was dating someone she knew, trusted and loved. They would visit one another at their schools and spend the night. One evening, she stayed over in his dorm room...in a playful mood he had tied her to the bed using socks.

Then he opened the door and let his fraternity brothers in.

Yes I can imagine a scenario where little one had been sexualized early, took a ride from some she knew who had groomed her and then he let his friends and neighbors have at her.

 

[jjenny]

Two critical looks at New York Times coverage of the case:

The New York Times' Rape-Friendly Reporting (Mother Jones)

The New York Times' sloppy, slanted child rape story (Salon)

I am really curious as to why NYT would write such an article about this case, considering that even if the girl was not objecting (and I am not saying this was the case), since she is 11 legally she is under the age of consent.

 

[Missizzy]

sfbaynancydrew--Your post is exactly what I've been concerned about. You very eloquently described one of the most challenging sets of behavior which our society must recognize.

Our family also has cared for two highly sexualized children, both of whom were sexually abused at early ages--one preverbally. People who have not been around children like this have no earthly clue as to the dangers which lurk for them. Both of the children we had (one for two years and one for 4 months) were moved to specialized treatment homes for their own safety.

A young child who acts in this manner must be highly protected, in the same way a child with autism will self harm. Of course, there's no blame for the child. They didn't ask to be this way. But the aftereffects of rape can do this to a child. It would be naive of me to think that all heal and move on. Some do and some don't. I know this from my own children. Some turn their pain inward and some act out. The predators are always watching and the danger is there, none the less.

I've been wondering all day if this young girl might be a victim of either professional or amateurish trafficking. That could explain the prior attacks.

I am so hopeful that DHS puts all possible energy into intense therapy for this child.

 

[mysteriew]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110309...lYwN5bl90b3Bfc3RvcmllcwRzbGsDMThhcnJlc3RlZGlu

The girl has been raped on several other occasions as well by more than one person.

From the link:

James Evans, an attorney representing four people arrested in the case, including two of the Cleveland High School students, said he has been told up to 28 individuals ultimately could be charged.

"From what I'm getting, there were some warning signs these things were occurring, or about to occur, and (the authorities) didn't move fast enough," he said. "We'll certainly be looking to see what went wrong with that aspect of the system as well as the side where my clients were involved."



I notice that this article generally discusses the criminal histories of the suspects and that they included manslaughter and aggravated robbery. I wonder why there is no mention that one was reportedly was arrested for sexual assualt of a child in 2009 and the case is still pending.

 

[katydid23]

sfbaynancydrew--Your post is exactly what I've been concerned about. You very eloquently described one of the most challenging sets of behavior which our society must recognize.

Our family also has cared for two highly sexualized children, both of whom were sexually abused at early ages--one preverbally. People who have not been around children like this have no earthly clue as to the dangers which lurk for them. Both of the children we had (one for two years and one for 4 months) were moved to specialized treatment homes for their own safety.

A young child who acts in this manner must be highly protected, in the same way a child with autism will self harm. Of course, there's no blame for the child. They didn't ask to be this way. But the aftereffects of rape can do this to a child. It would be naive of me to think that all heal and move on. Some do and some don't. I know this from my own children. Some turn their pain inward and some act out. The predators are always watching and the danger is there, none the less.

I've been wondering all day if this young girl might be a victim of either professional or amateurish trafficking. That could explain the prior attacks.

I am so hopeful that DHS puts all possible energy into intense therapy for this child.

I agree that she might have been 'used to' being abused in this way because she kept the horrible secret for so long. It is hard for me to imagine that any 11 yr old girl would be able to cover it up and go back home and go back to school acting as if nothing happened. I know it happens that way often if a child is raped by one person, but an entire night of multiple stranger rapes?
How could she pretend something that horrific never happened? I am afraid that she was in over her head with something like this already. So tragic.
I think she may have been a victim of longterm sexual abuse and was perhaps suffering from PTSD.

 

[MorenoI]

This poor girl will need alot of help when this is over. I can't get over that fact that she was raped by all those boys & men!

 

[lonetraveler]

I agree that she might have been 'used to' being abused in this way because she kept the horrible secret for so long. It is hard for me to imagine that any 11 yr old girl would be able to cover it up and go back home and go back to school acting as if nothing happened. I know it happens that way often if a child is raped by one person, but an entire night of multiple stranger rapes?
How could she pretend something that horrific never happened? I am afraid that she was in over her head with something like this already. So tragic.
I think she may have been a victim of longterm sexual abuse and was perhaps suffering from PTSD.

I'm wondering if she was given any drugs at the time of these rapes. I haven't read anything but it would not surprise me.

 

[jjenny]

"All of the defendants arrested are African-American and the girl is Hispanic."

http://abcnews.go.com/US/gang-rape-charges-18-men-sparks-racial-tensions/story?id=13095476&page=1