A 13-year-old girl who ran away from
home was raped by up to ten men in an apartment where people cheered and
filmed their attacks with cellphones, it emerged today.
Authorities
have charged two men in the June 29 attacks, which began after the girl
ran away from an Austin, Texas, group home for children and got into a
car with three unknown men, according to an arrest affidavit.
Juan
Lozano Ortega, 25, and Edgar Gerardo Guzman Perez, 26, were charged on
Wednesday with aggravated sexual assault of a child.
They
were being held on Thursday in the Travis County Jail on $30,000 bond
each. Court and jail records did not indicate whether the men had
attorneys.
Arrested: Edgar Gerardo Guzman Perez, left, and
Juan Lozano Ortega, right, have been charged with aggravated sexual
assault of a child in the June 29 attacks
Austin police did not immediately return a phone message on Thursday about the investigation or other possible suspects.
'All
of the other males took turns having sex with victim against her will,
which lasted through the early morning hours,' the affidavit states.
Investigators
found Ortega and Perez because one of them let the girl borrow their
cellphone after dropping her off in a neighborhood and telling her to
'find somewhere to go', according to the court documents.
The victim called her foster brother,
who refused to come pick her up, but his caller ID captured the number
of the suspect's phone.
Doctors
who examined the girl told investigators their findings were consistent
with her allegations, according to court records.
Focus: State child welfare investigators have
also started investigating the Settlement Home for Children, where the
girl lived and ran away from
State child welfare
investigators have also started investigating the Settlement Home for
Children, where the girl lived, said Patrick Crimmins, spokesman for the
Texas Department of Family and Protective Services.
According
to its website, the facility believes 'that healing and learning take
place when a child's deepest needs are met, both physically and
mentally.
'We are
dedicated to helping children who have been abused and neglected by
resolving their emotional, behavioral and familial problems and
providing quality residential care.'
A phone message and email to the Settlement Home were not immediately returned Thursday.
In
Cleveland, Texas, the gang rape of an 11-year-old girl over a
three-month period in 2010 led to charges against 14 adults and three
juveniles.
The rapes
happened at a vacant trailer house about 45 miles northeast of Houston.
At least 15 of the defendants charged in that case were convicted. One
received a life sentence and another 99 years.
dailymail.co.uk
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