Trenton, NJ Arrests: Six Arrested in 7-Year-Old New Jersey Girl Rape Case
Trenton, NJ: On Saturday, six arrests were announced by New Jersey officials in connection with the gang rape of a 7-year-old girl.
The investigation has led them to believe that the girl's 15-year-old stepsister sold her for sex at a party in a 13th-floor apartment at the Rowan Towers complex on West State Street, near the State Capitol, Trenton, New Jersey.
The arrests were the result of a week of investigation into the incidents of March 28. Officials have also hinted at making more arrests in the days to come.
The first man arrested on Thursday is Gregory Joseph Leary, 20, of Trenton who has been charged with raping the 15-year-old girl. The second man charged in the same case is Tiemear Lewis, 19, of Trenton, according to the officials.
Out of the three juveniles charged in the case aged 17, 14 and 13, at least one will be tried in adult court, said Joseph L. Bocchini Jr., the Mercer County prosecutor.
The issue does not end there. The 15-year-old girl herself was arrested this week “for her role in allowing her 7-year-old sister to be sexually assaulted,” and remanded to the Mercer County Youth Detention Center.
The officials said that the older girl is accused of accepting money for sex herself and then taking money for letting men touch the younger girl. That led to younger girl's rape by many men.
At a news conference at the city’s police headquarters on Saturday evening, Mayor Douglas H. Palmer of Trenton spoke about the sequence of events and the investigation. He said that the two girls went to a party in the Trenton high-rise.
The 7-year-old girl who met the Mayor in his office told him that she realised that the party was trouble but still went as she wanted to protect her sister.
At that time the girls were reported missing to Trenton police.
The mayor said that the family will be moved out from the area as the girl will be stigmatized as the girl herself told him that everybody stares at him knowing that it was her.
