Afro Creek Catawba

LibertadLatina

July 30, 2008

See also:

Added July 26, 2007

Native America

Fired Nevada U.S. attorney had doubled prosecution rate in cases affecting Native Americans

After 11 years as an assistant U.S. attorney in Reno, where most of the cases from federal crimes on Nevada's 27 Indian reservations were handled and where he had prosecuted many of them, Daniel Bogden became the U.S. attorney for Nevada and made American Indian issues a priority...

Then in late 2006, the Justice Department abruptly fired eight U.S. attorneys. Bogden was one of five among the eight who had taken a leadership role on DOJ's sub-committee on Native issues...

Arlan Melendez, vice president of the Inter-Tribal Council of Nevada: ''When you see the Justice Department isn't really interested in Indian country, and then you see them fire U.S. attorneys who are taking an interest in Indian country, you formulate your opinions from that.''

- Indian Country Today

July 20, 2007

Added July 14, 2007

Native America

Crime-victim advocates from Indian country have focused attention on the pandemic of rape on Indian lands by whites and other perpetrators. One in three Indian women will be raped, and more than 70 percent of the rapists are not Indian.

...Native women leaders say that sexual predators target Indian lands because they know that their chances of getting investigated and prosecuted are slim.

If these cases are prosecuted, it is most likely by a tribal court which, under federal law, can only impose a one-year sentence even for the most violent rape by a repeat offender.

Native leaders say white rapists travel from reservation to reservation offending...

Mexico

Violencia Contra Mujeres Migrantes en Aumento

About Violence Against Migrant Women in Mexico

The National Institute for Women (Inmujeres) has announced that Central and South American migrant women face the risk of being trafficked as they cross Mexico on on their way to the United States. Wherever they end their journey [in the U.S. or Mexico], they face discrimination, labor exploitation, low wages, precarious living conditions, and have no access to social services.

For these reasons, Inmujeres considers that the two most critical problems facing women migrants today are reproductive and sexual health, and gender violence.

Due to current migration patterns, the problem of HIV/AIDS is having an especially severe impact on these women. They are put into high-risk situations during their long journey, due to the high frequency of sexual assaults that occur.

- CIMAC Noticias

Women's Rights News

Mexico City

July 24, 2008

Mexico

Centroamericanas víctimas de trata sexual y laboral al pasar por Veracruz

 Central American migrants who seek to reach the United States are tricked into sex and labor slavery in Veracruz

City of Xalapa, Veracruz state - During a recent workshop conducted by the International Organization for Migration (IOM), Martha Mendoza Parissi, director of the Veracruz Women's Institute (IVM) declared that human traffickers in their southern Mexican state are luring women migrants into slavery through deception. Women are offered supposedly high-paying jobs, an offer that they find attractive because it eliminates the need to go through the long [and expensive and risky] journey to the United States to improve their living conditions.

In Veracruz there are few reports of trafficking in women, said Mendoza Parissi. In fact, there are no recorded complaints involving the many undocumented Central American women who are known to be trafficked into sexual slavery in the southern counties of the state.

Mendoza Parissi: "it is common to see street ads in municipalities such as Acayucan, that are designed as a hook to pull these women into jobs in which nobody knows where the job is, nor who they will be working for. They only show a cell phone number. That is where the businesses that engage in human trafficking may possibly be found."

Mendoza Parissi went on to say that for these reasons, it is important for government agencies to understand what trafficking is and how it operates, so that they can build strategies to combat it. "Often it is the women victims who are punished by the law for defending themselves against being forced against their will to engage in a particular activity." It is precisely for that reason, she noted, that women refuse to report abuses by men to the authorities.

"Local governments create 'bottlenecks' in providing access to the law as it relates to violence against women. We have to resolve these issues as a first step."

The IOM and IVM are currently planning to conduct a study of human trafficking in Veracruz as a next step in their collaboration.

- CIMAC Noticias Womens Rights News

Mexico City

July 24, 2008

Florida, USA

Colombian warlords plead guilty to drug charges

Miami - Two warlords from a far-right Colombian paramilitary group blamed for some of modern Colombia's worst atrocities pleaded guilty Tuesday in federal court to a drug conspiracy charge.

Ramiro Vanoy Murillo, 60, and Francisco Javier Zuluaga Lindo, 38, are among 14 paramilitary members extradited to the U.S. in May for their alleged roles in a massive cocaine smuggling operation in the late 1990s. The two entered their pleas before U.S. District Judge K. Michael Moore in downtown Miami.

Under a plea agreement, Vanoy Murillo faces up to 19 years and Zuluaga Lindo more than 17 years behind bars. Prosecutors said they would drop additional charges against the two at sentencing. Each could also face up to $14 million in fines...

So far, Diego Murillo, 47, is the only other member of the extradited group [of 14 men] to have pleaded guilty. He entered his plea in June to drug trafficking charges in Manhattan federal court and faces a sentence of up to 33 years in prison. He is scheduled to be sentenced Dec. 18. Human rights organizations claimed Diego Murillo was behind hundreds of murders in Colombia as part of the right-wing United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia [AUC]...

Thousands of Colombians have lodged formal complaints of ``atrocious crimes'' against the paramilitaries - including murder, rape and kidnapping. Hundreds of mass graves are thought to remain hidden in Colombia.

- Laura Wides-Munoz

The Associated Press

July 29, 2008

Mexico

Drug-abuse backlash in Mexico

Agua Prieta, Sonora state - Perla got hooked on crack and crystal meth at age 12. Soon she was prostituting herself to support her habit.

At her lowest point, the girl said, she was selling sex for 50 pesos, about $4.75.

"As soon as one rock was done, I'd be out trying to get money for another," said Perla, whose last name is being withheld because of her age.

Now 15, Perla is in a rehab center in this Mexico border town, trying to put her life back together.

Stories like Perla's are multiplying as Mexico confronts a growing problem with drug addiction, a phenomenon that some experts blame on the Mexican government's crackdown on drug cartels and stepped-up U.S. border enforcement.

With drugs harder to smuggle into the United States, more remain in Mexico, where they are sold to local consumers, said Marcela López Cabrera, director of the Monte Fenix Center for Advanced Studies in Mexico City, which trains drug counselors...

- Chris Hawley

AZ Central

July 28, 2008

New York State, USA

Veteran Buffalo Police officer faces criminal sex charge, expected in court

A veteran Buffalo Police officer facing a criminal sex charge is expected to appear in court Wednesday.

38-year-old Monte Montalvo is accused of forcibly performing oral sex on 19-year-old girl last December.

It allegedly happened at Montalvo's home after he worked as an off duty security officer for a Fraternity party.

Montalvo has been suspended from the force during the investigation.

- WIVB

July 23, 2008

Hawaii, USA

Minister Charged With Abusing Girl

Honolulu - A Kaneohe minister was held on $2 million bail after being accused of sexually assaulting a member of his congregation for several years.

Manual Guillermo Taboada was the spiritual leader of a group of families who shared a large home in Kaneohe. Prosecutors said he abused his position to abuse a girl over eight years, starting when she was 12.

Taboada’s Web site describes him as a rags to riches immigrant from Peru who has devoted his life to God. On the site, he lectures visitors against the way of the flesh.

But prosecutors said the 57-year-old minister was a hypocrite, leading several families in a communal lifestyle while molesting a member of the flock for years.

“He told her if she told anyone that the ministry would fall apart and the children of other families would be taken away,” said deputy prosecutor Vickie Kapp.

The woman reported the abuse last week after turning 21. Taboada was arrested...

- KITV

July 23, 2008

California, USA

Inland Empire Teen rape victim, mother speak out

Montclair police are searching for the suspect they say raped a teenage girl as she cried for help.

The 14-year-old victim told police a man grabbed her by the arm as she walked home through an alley on Sunday night.
She says the suspect pinned her down on an old mattress behind a dumpster and raped her, and when she screamed, no one came to help.

The victim and her mother spoke to Eyewitness News about the alleged attack.

"I screamed three times three loud times. The first time I screamed he'd put his hand over my mouth, he slapped me and told me to shut up," the victim said.

"I want make him pay for what he did to my daughter. I want the ultimate punishment, and he'd be lucky if the cops catch him before I do," said mother Tina Torres.

The victim says the suspect also threatened her with a gun, although she never saw it.

The suspect is described as a Hispanic man, between 18 and 20 years old...

- KABC

Los Angeles, California

July 29, 2008

Tennessee, USA

MS 13 Leader Pleaded Guilty In Court On Monday

Nashville - The motto of the MS 13 gang is "kill, rape, control.” MS 13 is one of the largest and most violent gangs in the U.S., but when they made their way to Nashville, their violence couldn't be ignored with shootings and slayings often taking place in south Nashville.

Sgt. Gary Kemper brought three years of investigations to help prosecute the members, including a double homicide on Nolensville Road in June 2006 in which MS 13 gang members killed two men who they thought were in a rival gang.

"MS 13 worked on intimidation and fear and intimidation of the Hispanic community. That’s the way they worked. Their whole MO (method of operation) is fear," said Kemper...

The three who pleaded guilty in court on Monday were the group’s leaders. The most current head of the gang, Escolastico Serrano agreed to 45 years in prison.

His brother Oscar Serrano and high-ranking member Ronald Fuentes faced between 30 years to life. They'll be sentenced in September.

- WSMV

Sara Dorsey

July 28, 2008

Mexico
Exhuman a Susana Xocua, violada y asesinada en Zongolica

Elderly Indigenous Woman Who Was Raped and Murdered is Exhumed

Susana Xocua exhumation, a case of rape and murder in Zongolica

Two months after a the family insisted that the Veracruz state government exhume the body of Susana Xocua Tezoco, and elderly indigenous woman, the state Attorney General of Justice heeded the request, and performed the exhumation together with experts from the federal government.

Relatives and neighbors of the woman from the community of San Jose in the Zongolica region had rejected the opinion of the PGJE death by a "strangled herniated bladder." Authorities never performed an autopsy on Xocua Tezoco, despite the fact that when her body found on May 25th, she was semi-nude, her legs were open, she was bloodied and she showed visible signs of torture. The victim was seen in this condition by 250 witnesses from her community.

The case of Susana Xocua is the fourth to have occurred in the Sierra Zongolica with similar characteristics: the victims have all been older adult women with signs of sexual violence and torture, whom the authorities have claimed died from other [non-violent, non-criminal] causes...

...According to Julio Atenco Vidal, the Coordinator of Indigenous Organizations of the Zongolica Mountain region (CROISZ), the advanced state of decomposition of Susana Xocua may hide the physical and sexual abuse suffered by her before death. Atenco Vidal expressed the idea that perhaps the Veracruz Attorney General's office delayed the exhumation intentionally, to obscure the facts in the case.

For his part, Attorney Veracruz announced that from this date forward, he will prosecute public servants of the attorney general's office who apply for autopsy waivers in cases where it is presumed that a death was caused by violence...

[Expanded Translation]

- Laura Castro Medina

- CIMAC Noticias

Womens Rights News

Mexico City

July 18, 2008

Mexico
Presentan nuevo programa dirigido a mujeres indígenas en Guerrero

New Initiative Aims to Strengthen Indigenous Women's Rights in Guerrero State

Mexico City - With the aim of strengthening the rights of indigenous women, the United Nations Office for the Development for Women (UNIFEM) and Rosa Maria Gomez, Secretary for Women's Affairs for the state of Guerrero, introduced in the House of Deputies their "Agenda for Strengthening the Rights of Indigenous Women."

UNIFEM consultant Patricia Olamendi Torres stressed that the project seeks social justice for indigenous women, and the full exercise of their human rights and citizenship, especially in cases where there are few or no [economic] opportunities for themselves and their families.

[Expanded Translation]

- Sandra Torres Pastrana

CIMAC NOticias

Womens Rights News

Mexico City

July 11, 2008

New York, USA

Grandmother Guilty in Violent Mexican Prostitution Ring

Cadman Plaza East - A diminutive grandmother pleaded guilty to her role in a family-run prostitution ring that smuggled women from Mexico to New York who were sometimes violently coerced to perform sex acts.

Consuelo Carreto Valencia, who is from Mexico, pleaded guilty Tuesday in federal court in Brooklyn, quickly bringing to a close a trial that had begun only a day earlier.

The 4-foot-10, 61-year-old woman had faced 12 counts of conspiracy, sex trafficking and smuggling. She pleaded guilty to one sex-trafficking count and faces a sentence of no more than 14 years in prison.

Her attorney, John S. Wallenstein, said she was deathly afraid that she would die in prison if convicted on all counts.

He said he warned Carreto about the strength of the government’s case. “I said the jurors are going to want to jump out of the jury box and tear you to pieces,” Wallenstein said...

Prosecutors said Carreto was the matriarch of a family operating a human smuggling operating out of the town of San Miguel de Tenancingo. The Carretos, according to prosecutors, “engaged in a scheme to lure, entice, compel and coerce Mexican women and girls into prostitution” in Mexico and the United States.

The women and girls were smuggled across the border and brought to two apartments in Corona, Queens, where two of Carreto’s sons and another person forced the women — through violence, sexual assault, threats and other methods of coercion — to become prostitutes, prosecutors said. The women were compelled to turn over their earnings — $25 to $35 for each sex act — to various brothel owners and to the Carretos, prosecutors said. The money was then wired to Mexico, prosecutors said.

Two of Carreto’s sons and a friend pleaded guilty to more than two dozen criminal counts for their roles in the prostitution ring. The brothers were sentenced to 50 years and the friend to 25.

Carreto was accused of helping to coordinate the operation from Tenancingo. In her plea, she admitted knowing that a woman living in her house in Tenancingo worked as a prostitute and had been brought to New York to work as a prostitute, her attorney said. She also acknowledged receiving money that had been wired from her sons.

- Associated Press

July 24, 2008

New York, USA

Woman Assaulted; Newborn Baby Dies

The Wayne County District Attorney's Office will decide Thursday whether an illegal immigrant from Mexico will face more serious charges in connection with the death of a newborn baby.

The Wayne County Sheriff's Department is investigating the death of the infant after an assault on the baby's mother.

Authorities say Juan Martinez, 28, assaulted his girlfriend, Angelica Ponce-Ramirez last week, causing her to go into premature labor.

Ponce-Ramirez delivered a baby girl at Strong Hospital Tuesday. The baby died about an hour later.

D.A. Rick Healy says Martinez kneed Ponce-Ramirez in the stomach at least five times and beat her leg with an extension cord.

Healy says the assault stemmed from an argument in which Martinez claimed he wasn't the baby's father.

"This is really a troubling case," Healy said. "The allegation is at least on the charge, it appears he intentionally assaulted her for the purpose of her losing the baby or the baby dying. It appears that way from the allegation that he struck her with his knee multiple times in her stomach. Being 28 weeks, that was his intent. It appears that way..."

- R News

Rochester, NY

July 23, 2008

Texas, USA

One Arrested, Two Sought In Retired Officer's Shooting

Houston - A man was arrested and charged in connection with the shooting of a retired Houston police officer, while two other persons of interest remained on the loose, KPRC Local 2 reported Thursday.

Raziel Jesus Munoz, 20, was charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon.

Police said Munoz shot Belle Ortega, 78, at an apartment in the 6900 block of South Loop East in southeast Houston on Monday at about 1:20 p.m.

Investigators said Ortega was visiting family members at the Plum Creek apartment complex when she was critically wounded in a drive-by shooting...

Two other suspects, Bruno Aviles, 17, and Andrew Garcia, 20, are still wanted for questioning in the shooting.

Ortega was the first Hispanic female officer in the Houston Police Department.

- KPRC

July 24, 2008

Texas, USA

Jorge Mejia is charged with aggravated sexual assault of a child

Houston police are searching for a man accused of sexually assaulting a young girl.

Jorge Mejia, 31, is charged with two counts of aggravated sexual assault of a child in connection with attacks on a 9-year-old relative, police said.

The attacks occurred during the past year, said Officer M.S. Bailey, who is investigating the case.

She said the child told another family member about the attacks.

"This child has been sexually assaulted by this guy several times," Bailey said.

She said Mejia was last seen about three weeks ago, when he sexually assaulted a woman who also is one of his relatives.

Dale Lezon

Houston Chronicle

July 24, 2008

Florida, USA

Man wanted for sexually battering patient

Volusia County - Police said 50-year-old Carmelo Eduardo Reyes-Rosado, a medical attendant at the center, is accused of pressuring a 26-year-old patient to have sex with him several times at the facility.

As early as June 2, the woman alleges Rosado told her she needed to have sex with him if she wanted to get into a residential treatment program. The patient at the time was sedated and in what she said was an emotional state, and feared she would not get the help she needed if she refused him.

She agreed, and told police that Rosado led her into a laundry room where he asked her to perform a sex act on him. This was the first of several alleged encounters at the treatment center that either took place in the laundry room or a conference room.

The victim told police that she was told not tell anyone what had happened or it would jeopardize her getting into the treatment program.

Police said the last encounter happened at the end of May when Rosado brought another female in the room to witness the sex act.

Rosado quit his job the same day the patient filed the complaint against him. Two days later, his attorney arranged a meeting with investigators where he admitted to two of the sex acts. An arrest warrant was issued on Thursday after the investigation was complete.

Police need your help finding Rosado...

- FOX 35

Orlando , Florida

July 21 2008

Texas, USA

Francisco Pedraza Cruz fugitive on charges of Aggravated Sexual Assault of a Child

Houston - Crime Stoppers and Harris County Sheriff's Office Child Abuse Investigators are seeking the public's help for information leading to the capture of 33 year old Francisco Pedraza Cruz, a fugitive on charges of Aggravated Sexual Assault of a Child.

Around March 2000, Francisco Pedraza Cruz would enter the 7-year-old victim's home when her mother was working and he would sexually assault her. This happened on numerous occasions and the suspect told the victim if she told anyone he would kill her and her mother. She finally told someone when she was 14 years old.

On June 26, 2008 charges of aggravated sexual assault of a child were filed on Cruz. A warrant was issued out of the 183rd District Court and bond was set at $30,000. He is described as a 5'6" Hispanic male weighing 210 pounds. He has black hair, brown eyes, possibly a mustache and a medium complexion. He still believed to be in the Houston area.

- KTRK

Houston, Texas

July 24, 2008

Indiana, USA

Man Accused of Raping Young Girl

A man is facing rape charges thanks to his fellow church goers. Members of an Hispanic church in Evansville told police officers one of their members, Armando Heras, had molested one of their other members, a 14-year-old girl. The girl told officers he had forced himself on her twice and sent her an inappropriate picture of himself via cell phone. Officers tracked down and arrested Heras, who claims that when he and the girl were together sexually, it was consensual. He faces several charges, including false informing for the fake name he gave officers during the arrest.

- TristateHomePage.com

July 14, 2008

Georgia, USA

Wanted for Rape of a Minor

Pierce County - Jorge Ibarra, 20, is wanted on charges he raped a 14-year-old female, which was reported to authorities June 30...

Ibarra has warrants for child molestation, rape and aggravated sodomy. He is 5 feet 3 inches tall and weighs 160 pounds. He is said to be fluent in both Spanish and English.

- The Blackshear Times

July 16, 2008

Georgia, USA

3 hunted in home invasion and rape

Three suspects are being sought in what authorities are describing as a home invasion armed robbery in which a 15-year-old female was raped.

The incident took place Thursday afternoon at a residence in the Beverly Park neighborhood, south of Newnan off Millard Farmer Road.

Just before 1 p.m., Israel Salis Rodriguez, 26, was at the residence along with a 15-year-old and two children when three Hispanic males entered through the basement door wearing gloves and sunglasses, according to the Coweta Sheriff's Office incident report.

Rodriguez told investigators he was surprised by two of the men when they came up from the basement stairs. The intruders demanded money, and Rodriguez attempted to fight them off. The intruders jumped him, tied him up with extension cords and began punching him and burning his right leg with a lighter, according to sheriff's office Major James Yarbrough.

The 15-year-old told officers that when the intruders entered the home, she was in her room with the two children. When two of the intruders made their way upstairs, the third intruder -- who was armed with a knife and a handgun -- remained in the basement with the three juveniles.

The attacker reportedly put the gun to the female's head and raped her, according to investigators. The two children were unharmed...

Elizabeth Richardson

The Times-Herald

Coweta, Georgia

July 18, 2008

Ohio, USA

Abuse among immigrants more difficult to confront; victims especially afraid to get help

Immigrants are no more likely to suffer abuse than other American women, experts say, but they are less likely to see a way out.

Isolated, unsure and maybe reliant on their husband for their visa, "It's harder for immigrant women to get safe." said Cathleen Alexander, executive director of the Domestic Violence Center, which runs Cuyahoga County's domestic-violence program.

Her center's recent experience in the Hispanic community illuminated a pent-up demand for help. Three years ago, it launched its Latina Project, reaching out to Latinas with lures like bilingual counselors and a Spanish-speaking support group.

A dam seemed to burst. The number of incidents of abuse reported by Hispanic women surged by 400 percent, to 240 cases last year.

One of the callers was Marta, an immigrant from South America who asked that her full identity not be divulged, as she still fears her abuser and his family.

For weeks, she said, her boyfriend kept her locked in an apartment without a phone, beating and raping her. At rare times when she was free of him, "I was too afraid to call police. He had told me I would be ignored," she said through an interpreter.

One Sunday, her minister slipped her a card with the Latina Project's linea de ayuda, helpline. Now her ex-boyfriend is in jail and counselors are helping her piece her life back together.

What immigrant women should know

* If you are the victim of abuse or rape, you have the right to the same protections as any other woman in America.

* You will not be turned away from a women's shelter because you do not speak English.

* If you ask for help, it is very unlikely anyone will ask about your immigration status.

* If you are afraid to call the police or a crisis hot line, ask someone to call for you.

* You will not be deported for leaving an abusive husband. U.S. law allows battered women with temporary visas to petition for their own green cards.

- Joshua Gunter

The Plain Dealer

July 17, 2008

Massachusetts, USA

Violent Assault In Front Of Local Church

Morning prayers at a Springfield church turn somber after the congregation learns of a violent act that took place in front of their church early Sunday morning.

Early this morning St. John's Congregational Church on Union Street was the scene of a violent struggle. Police say just before 1 AM a woman was held at knife point...dragged to a grassy area beside the church and sexually assaulted. It's a crime that left church goers horrified as they stepped through the doors for Sunday service.

Lilly Davis says, "They didn't have respect for God's house and to use another person, that is disgusting."

Daphne Reid says, "It's a place where you go for prayer and to sanctify and I think that it's wrong, I think we need a little more police in the neighborhood to see what's going on."

Police say somehow the victim did manage to escape from her attackers by kicking and screaming. Once she was out of their hands she called for help and was transported by an ambulance to the hospital...

Right now police are on the lookout for two men described as Hispanic males. The first is said to be in his 20's and was wearing a red shirt, a gold cross and blue jeans. The second man was visibly older and has a cast on one of his hands. Even though the congregation is upset the incident happened on church property, many say it's not a complete shock and right now their prayers are with the victim...

- Meredith Broadcasting

July 13, 2008

Texas, USA

Lubbok police probe second abduction

Lubbock police are investigating the second kidnapping in a week involving a white SUV, a stun gun, an attempted rape and a dark, secluded area.

Two women have reported being attacked by a Hispanic man in a white SUV. In both cases, the attacker, described as in his late 20s or early 30s, around 6-feet tall and 200 pounds, used a stun gun on the women.

"Because there are similarities, we're thinking they're related," said Lubbock police Sgt. John Gomez...

- Andre L. Taylor

Avalanche-Journal

July 12, 2008

Arkansas, USA

DNA links man to rape

Bond has been set at $100,000 for the suspect in a May 24 residential burglary and rape of a Batesville woman, according to an Independence County Circuit Court affidavit filed by Detective Mike Mundy with the Independence County Sheriff’s Office.

The suspect, identified as Saul E. Reyes, 23, ...is behind bars after his DNA was reportedly matched to his victim, her clothes and a knife he was said to be carrying at the time of the incident.

In his affidavit, Mundy said that just before 6 a.m. on May 24, officers were dispatched to another residence at 100 Hidden Valley Drive, where the victim told them that a man had entered her home and raped her at knife point.

The woman said she didn’t know the man was in her home until she woke up with him on top of her and holding a knife to her throat, telling her he would kill her and her children, according to Mundy.

“(The victim) advised the suspect was a Hispanic male, short, skinny, with short hair and a beard,” Mundy said. “She said the attacker kept telling her he loved her.”

She also told police she would recognize the man’s voice if she ever heard it again...

On June 11, officers were again dispatched to same residence regarding a burglary in progress.

Upon their arrival they found a Hispanic man armed with a knife, lying on the ground a few feet from a window that had been forced open, according to Mundy.

Mundy said Reyes was detained by officers while Detective Jeff Sims and Deputy Rob Leonard spoke with the victim inside her home.

“While speaking with (her) and advising her they had a suspect, she heard the suspect’s voice,” Mundy said. “She grabbed Deputy Leonard by the arm, becoming quite emotional and stating, ‘That is the man that raped me...’

- Guardian Online

July 15, 2008

Tennessee, USA

Man charged in prostitute's rape

An Oak Ridge woman reported that she was raped on July 12 and then saw her alleged assailant in the same area on Monday night and called police.

The 35-year-old victim on Sunday told police she had been raped on Saturday night by a Hispanic man while three other Hispanic men held her. Officer Daniel McFee saw the victim walking on West Outer Drive and talked to her there, reports said.

She told McFee she was raped about 3 a.m. in the basement of an Applewood apartment building on Hunter Circle. She said one of the men hit her on the head with something, and they took her to a back room of the basement and raped her.

On Monday, she called the Police Department from a pay phone and reported seeing the man going into another Hunter Circle apartment.

McFee arrested Alejandro Hernandez Cortez, 23, 103 Hunter Circle, for aggravated rape in the case.

Police Capt. Rick Stone said the victim and another woman went to Hunter Circle for solicitation of sex. He said the other woman was not a witness to the attack but had apparently negotiated a sex act with another person in the area.

Stone said that although the victim is known in the area as a prostitute, officers believe she may have been attacked. He said negotiations may have gone bad or she may have changed her mind...

- Beverly Majors

The Oak Ridger

July 15, 2008

Arizona, USA

Police: Sex Predator Behind 9 Attempted Attacks

Phoenix - A sex predator who tried to rape a 12-year-old girl June 11 is behind nine attempted sex assault attacks since January, police said on Thursday.

Investigators said the man poses an immediate threat to the safety of children in the community and Silent Witness posted a $1,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and prosecution of the attacker.

The serial predator has targeted children and teens between the ages of 7 to 17, said Sgt. Paul Penzone. He said all of the attacks have occurred between 2 p.m. and 11 p.m.

The latest attack happened on Wednesday.

The June 11 attack occurred when the man approached a 12-year-old girl walking alone to her friend's apartment, shoved her to the ground and tried to rape her, police said.

The man ran up behind her in the 2200 block of West Campbell Avenue and attempted to pull down her shorts, officers said.

When the man pushed her to the ground and tried to sexually assault her, the girl screamed and the attacker released her, investigators said.

The girl ran to her friend's apartment and called police.

The man is described as a Native American or Hispanic male and is believed to be between 20 and 29 years old...

- KPHO

July 18, 2008

Utah, USA

...Rapist behind bars

Hurricane investigators, with the help of St. George police have caught the man suspected of rape, who has been on the run since last Sunday.

The victim called investigators on Saturday and said the suspect, 27 year old Jaime Avila tried to contact her again.

"During the attempt she was able to get a licence plate number," says Ken Perkins, Hurricane Police's public information officer.

Initial reports said the victim called 911 at around 2 am last Sunday to report the attack that happened at around 3700 West and 150 North in Hurricane.

The 17 year old girl described her attacker as a Hispanic male between 5'4 and 5 foot 8 inches tall, but did not know his name...

- Chance Walser

KCSG

July 15, 2008

Washington State, USA

Rape reported in Centralia park

Centralia - Lewis County residents are on edge after two rapes were reported in five days.

The first happened Wednesday at a Chehalis Subway shop where a female employee was raped, tied up and robbed.

The latest rape was reported five miles away, in Centralia.

The 17-year-old victim says a stranger, on a bike, approached her Saturday at Fort Borst Park.

Police say the suspect spoke in Spanish before leading her to a wooded area and sexually assaulting her.

He rode away on his bike and she was able to make her way to a friend's house to call 9-1-1.

- KING5.com

 July 20, 2008

Florida, USA

Rape suspect followed both victims to homes, officials say

Winter Haven - Law enforcement officials say they have learned how rape suspect Edwin G. Mejia-Zapata found the victims.

The suspect didn't know the victims and it's just a coincidence the two victims lived in the same neighborhood, according to Winter Haven spokeswoman Joy Townsend.

Mejia-Zapata, 25, told officers he followed one victim from Burger King to her home in the Verandahs at Lake Reeves subdivision, according to Townsend.

The second victim was followed from the 7-Eleven convenience store on Cypress Gardens Boulevard, near Lake Ruby, to her home in the same subdivision, Townsend said...

A native of Ecuador, Mejia-Zapata was arrested at his home around 6:20 p.m. Monday and charged with the rape of the two women.

Through DNA testing, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement determined one man was responsible for both rapes, though there wasn't a match in the existing database at the time...

A former aircraft mechanic in the Navy, Mejia-Zapata is charged with two counts of armed burglary and seven counts of sexual battery with a deadly weapon in connection with the two rapes...

- Shelly Godefrin

July 23, 2008

Texas, USA

Man wanted in woman's attack in downtown Austin

Austin police detectives released a composite sketch of a man they say attacked a woman in downtown Austin and tried to sexually assault her.

The attack happened early in the morning on July 19 in the 1400 block of West 6th Street.

The woman told police the man walked up behind her and demanded her money. Then he took her to a grassy area and tried to assault her, but she was able to get away.

The man ran. He's described as a Hispanic man in his 20's...

- KVUE.com

July 24, 2008

South Carolina, USA

Girl, 13, presumed to be with boyfriend, 21

Goose Creek - A 13-year-old girl has been missing more than a week, and police have accused an illegal immigrant of being involved in her disappearance...

Fernanda Amores left her home about midnight July 14 after receiving several e-mails from 21-year-old Noe Marin Jimenez, an illegal immigrant from Mexico, authorities said. They said that Jimenez wrote in the e-mails that he would come to Amores' house and pick her up that night.

Jimenez is wanted on a charge of contributing to the delinquency of a minor in connection with Amores' disappearance.

"He is not suspected of endangering her. The two are, against the family's wishes, a couple," said Casey Hoskins, Goose Creek public information officer. "It is, typically, a kid walking off. The problem here is that, because he's older, he is contributing to her delinquency."

- Nadine Parks

The Post and Courier

July 24, 2008

California, USA

...A statutory rape case from the county's recent history has the potential to alter... immigration law

The U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeal heard the case of Juan Elias Estrada-Espinoza in Pasadena on Wednesday.

Amador County - …[Five years ago Juan Elias] Estrada-Espinoza was a 20-year-old... grocery clerk. The Mexican national had relocated to the states with his family in 1992 at the age of 12, attaining permanent residence status six years later.

In July 2003, Estrada-Espinoza had an emergency protective order filed against him when S.A. [his under-age girlfriend and mother of his child] complained he inappropriately touched her…

Around this time, two other women had filed complaints with the sheriff's office against Estrada-Espinoza. They said he committed sexual acts when they were too drunk to protest. One was a 17-year-old girl…

[Estrada-Espinoza has been in federal custody for 3 years on immigration charges.] In that time, the American Civil Liberties Union filed multiple lawsuits in federal court protesting the government's ability to incarcerate immig-rants in detention centers for prolonged periods of time while their deportation cases are heard…

This January, the ACLU took its case to the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals in Pasadena…

At issue is whether statutory rape, even when it's consensual, constitutes "sexual abuse of a minor" and should therefore be considered an aggravated felony worthy of deportation.

…A favorable ruling could set a precedent that requires the reevaluation of potentially thousands of other deportations, as well as those currently serving prison sentences for illegal reentry into this country when statutory rape was the underlying offense for which they were deported.

…There will be tremendous repercussions in immigration [law]…

The age of sexual consent in Mexico City and in a number of Mexican states is 12. Similar laws exist across Latin America.  Men who migrate bring that cultural dynamic with them to the United States. 

The U.S. population does have the right to say "well, we have laws against underage sexual relationships with adult men and women."  For newly arrived immigrants, it is certainly required that they obey the rules as they exist today in the U.S. 

These problems are complicated further when the men involved believe in sexist machismo, and feel that it is their macho right to engage in 'unequal' underage relationships, with impunity, regardless of what U.S. laws say.

The collective social sensibilities of all people in the U.S. need to be consulted first, in regard to whether or not we want adult men to engage in this behavior simply because it is their custom in another country.  Do mothers, be they Latina or not, really want adult men asking 'Maria' to the middle school prom??

I don't think so!

LibertadLatina

July 1, 2008

See also:

"I see adult Latino men with 11 and 12 year old girls all the time in the greater Washington, DC area. While these relation-ships are 'acceptable' in much of Latin America, the mothers of these girls are NOT AGREEABLE to having the adult Central American (and other men) in their poor neighborhoods run around after their 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16 and 17 year old daughters after school while they, the hard-working parents (often single mothers), have to work two jobs and cannot defend their children during and after school hours.

And when the local police authorities do not act with the same energy that the case of a young middle class American female would invoke from them, these Latina mothers are disgusted. These parents come to the conclusion that the police and the government do not care, an experience that they are familiar with in their home countries..."

Dec. 5, 1999

- Zachary Malinowski

July. 1, 2008