In Rhode Island, eight men, including Carlos Vasquez, Malcom Baptista, Jose Vargas, Luis Luna, Erving Keith Colon, Richard Chester, Carlos Chicon, and Luis Cabrera, are being charged with sexually abusing a 16-year-old girl who was unconscious at a party. They may have gotten away with it if they hadn’t been so daring as to document their act.
The girl went to the police after the incident. According to police and court documents that the Boston Globe got its hands on, she told officers that she woke up after a party in an apartment at 100 Glenham Street in Providence with pain in her genitalia and wounds on her thighs. She recalled a guy holding her down on a bed and pouring Hennessy into her mouth after she became ill from the drinking and smoking during the party.
The adolescent recalls being nude in a bathroom shower while around 15 males laughed at her and probably took photographs of her before carrying her into a bedroom, but she was asleep throughout the alleged attack. When she awoke, she learned that someone had used her smartphone to send her ex-boyfriend mocking texts about many guys sexually abusing her while she was asleep. However, her mom had been looking for her after learning through her daughter’s ex-boyfriend that she was “in danger.”
Even though the girl and her family told the police about what happened later that day, the girl could only remember the first names or fake names of a few of the men who allegedly raped her, including the two who took her to the party. The inquiry was impeded as a result of this. But, six months after the crime, a Facebook video appeared showing the girl nude and unconscious on a bed while guys abused her and others watched on.
When the girl’s mom heard that the video was on the social media site, she saw proof that her daughter had been sexually abused. According to Providence Police Major David Lapatin, who described the video as “disgusting,” she taped it from Facebook and instantly presented it to cops.
Authorities established that at least one of the guys raped the adolescent girl and that the others assisted in different ways. They’re all around the room watching it, Lapatin added. Detectives used the video proof to get warrants for eight guys who were reportedly in the room with the adolescent and engaged in the assault.
Richard Tarell Chester, 20, of Seekonk, Massachusetts, was alone with the girl when she woke up and asked her to leave the residence. He was taken into custody and charged with sexual assault on a mentally incompetent person in the first degree and conspiracy. A search warrant was based on an affidavit that said he was caught on film raping the teen. In Rhode Island, Chester was ordered imprisoned without bail.
The other seven men were charged with plotting and assault with the intent to commit first-degree sexual assault on a person with a mental disability. They were identified as Luis Cabrera, Jose Vargas, Malcom Baptista, Luis N. Luna, and Carlos Vasquez, all 19 years old, from Providence; Carlos Chicon, 20, and Erving Keith Colon, 25, were also from Providence. According to authorities, the suspected attackers are all pals, and several are well-known to city detectives who probe violent crimes.
After getting help from sexual assault trauma specialists and the state Department of Children, Youth, and Families, the teen is thought to have gotten over the event. She’s in a good position and doing well, Lapatin added. Anyone who has experienced sexual assault, on the other hand, understands that it has long-term consequences that she will have to cope with for the rest of her life. The fact that her assailants videotaped it adds to the difficulty since anything uploaded on the internet never really “fades away.” She ought to be praised for her courage.
These so-called males were audacious enough to not only victimize but also videotape this girl. While we are grateful that their bravery provided the proof required to put them up, it also demonstrates their terrible wickedness and total contempt for another human being. Those who are malicious and predatory have no place in a civilized society. Their peers may teach kids what hardened criminals think of individuals who sexually abuse minors.
