Wow, this story keeps getting bigger and bigger. Cleveland Texas only has 7,600 people.
So far, they’ve arrested over 20 people for raping this 11 year old girl. :eek: It isn’t over yet either. The police are still investigating. It’s a mix of adult men and teen boys that are involved.
Plus, the kids at the high school were passing the video around the school. No telling how many more could be arrested on child porn charges.
This is one hell of a mess. I can’t believe no one came forward and reported this. The victim finally reported it days later.
MsNbc’s video has some good information. They were using an abandoned trailer. At least one guy had an on going sexual relationship with this 11 year old before & after the incident. They are estimating over 28 men may be involved.
*The affidavit said the assault started after a 19-year-old boy invited the victim to ride around in his car. He took her to a house on Travis Street where one of the other men charged, also 19, lived. There the girl was ordered to disrobe and was sexually assaulted by several boys in the bedroom and bathroom. She was told she would be beaten if she did not comply, the affidavit said.
* New York Times stuffily In my country a nineteen-yr-old who offered a ride to an eleven-yr-old would be considered odd.
I’d like to think that’s odd in our country too… Of course, Texas wants to be a different country, maybe this is part of it.
Love this bit of classiness from the NYT story:
And the story indicates that the victim herself didn’t report the incident, that it was an elementary school student who saw the video who reported it to a teacher, who reported it to the administration, who determined it didn’t take place on school grounds and who reported it to police.
Jesus Christ. I’m going to go shower for a while to get the ick off. Do let me know when you’ve successfully nuked that place into a shallow, glassy bowl, though, OK?
I used to hear stories about gangbangers running trains on girls, some as many as 50 but I always thought it was a big of exaggeration. Not that they didn’t run trains, just the number of guys willing to do it.
Some men (obviously) are, some men aren’t. Given the gender balance in law enforcement, many, probably most of the people involved in going after the people responsible for this are men too, you know. So are most of the people who passed laws against such behavior. If men were all scum they wouldn’t bother.
Having lived in east Texas, and hunted near Cleveland for several years, this story, though very sickening does not surprise me. Cleveland has been a hell hole for a long time, in highschool we used to hate having to play football games there. I hope they lock every single one of those sons of bitches up in Huntsville for a long, long, time.
An interesting side note, the place in town where the rapes occured is not now, nor ever has been known as “The Quarters”. It’s known locally as “The Hood”. I suspect a Times reporter found that term to be politically insensitive.
Warning: bad tangent
Whilst vaguely sympathising with this desire, I rejected it as one does a lot of capital punishment, for inflicting pain, which is a different matter to merely executing people, and I mused it would be best if they were separately escorted on walks in the countryside by a small troop genially commanded by a trustworthy fellow, and none returned: 'Tragic accidents’, ‘No-one could foresee Mr. X’s having suddenly thrown himself up a cliff, etc. etc.’ ‘Everyone declared blameless’. — which led me to brood on the fact I have never read Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events, which I really should some day — so I looked it up on Wikipedia, and there I found Texas once more.
*The series has come under criticism from some school districts for its dark themes. Citing objections to the suggested incest (referring to Olaf’s attempt to marry his distant niece Violet in The Bad Beginning, although his motivation was not sexual in nature, but rather an attempt to gain the Baudelaire fortune) and the word “damn” being said twice in The Reptile Room. *
Access to the books was similarly restricted at Katy ISD Elementary School, Katy, Fort Bend County, Texas.
Good to know they are protecting the children so well.
What a double-edged sword. Now that cellphone videos have circulated, they will exist, somewhere, forever. But if video evidence didn’t exist there would likely never be any charges laid, or the rapes would be a case of they said/she said. Not that evidence is going to keep this girl from being called a liar (if she chooses to testify) and a slut, [URL=“http://ca.news.yahoo.com/silence-prevents-more-b-c-gang-rape-charges-20110106-114656-545.html”]as in this gang rape case, or keep from perpetrators and their friends and family from continuing to claim their innocence, as in this gang rape case.
I guess, in the end, having people you trusted, and apathetic strangers, watch you get violated over and over then decide to broadcast the event to equally sadistic friends is a blessing in disguise. I do think these assholes should be charged with child pornography (and, according to the links, some have). Including the teenagers. Maybe especially the teenagers – they need a huge fucking wake-up call that their actions, even in fantasy internetland, have consequences.
I don’t think that you are wrong, but I understand that child-porn is usually a Federal issue, and so if the teens are found guilty of child-porn charges, it will indeed be a “fucking wake-up call” in that for all intents and purposes, their lives will be essentially destroyed, permanently.
Of course, the teens were apparently complicit in destroying a little 11 year-old girl’s life, so it’s hard to feel too badly for any of the perps, teens and adults alike, but this won’t likely be a slap on the hand in a juvie-court setting that the punk teens could laugh off.
Of course, Texas wants to be a different country, maybe this is part of it.