A 13-year-old girl from Austin, Texas, was raped as a group of as many as 10 men who filmed the attack on cell phone cameras, cheering as they assaulted the girl.
The alleged assault took place in the city of Austin, court records released Thursday showed. The 13-year-old girl had run away from a group home at the end of June and hitched a ride with three strangers. The men then took her to the Avalon Palms apartment complex, where they raped her.
The two men were later joined by a group of 10 men, who filmed the assault with cell phones and took turns assaulting her, the arrest affidavit showed. The alleged rape lasted from 10 pm through the night and into the next morning, police said.
A medical team examined the young girl, finding that her wounds were consistent with the attack she described.
After the 13-year-old was gang raped by the group of 10 men, the girl claims the men dumped her off on the side of the road.
Police were able to track down the men thanks to a blunder on their part. After dropping the girl off, they let her borrow a cell phone to “find someplace to go.” She called her foster brother, who would not pick her up, but police were later able to use the caller ID number to find the suspects.
Police have now arrested 25-year-old Juan Lozano Ortega and 26-year-old Edgar Gerardo Guzman Perez, charging them with aggravated sexual assault of a child, a first degree felony. They are both looking at the possibility of life in prison if convicted.
There was no word on the wherabouts of the other men involved in assaulting the 13-year-old girl, but police said they were searching for them.
As police search for the other suspects who gang raped the 13-year-old girl, a separate investigation has been launched into the foster home that she left. The Texas Department of Family Protective Services said it is looking into just how the 13-year-old was able to sneak away from Settlement Home.