15 yo NJ Girl Arrested for Selling Herself and 7 yo Sister for Party Sex

[MuffyBee]

http://www.myfoxhouston.com/dpps/news/dpgonc-nj-teen-arrested-for-selling-seven-year-old-sister-for-sex-fc-20100331_6842801
NJ Teen Arrested for Selling Seven-Year-Old Sister for Sex
Wednesday, March 31, 2010

(NewsCore) - A 15-year-old New Jersey girl was arrested for allegedly selling herself and her seven-year-old sister for sex to men who then gang-raped the child at a party on Sunday, The Star-Ledger reported Wednesday.

The teen, whose name was not released by police, allegedly watched as the men held her sister down and threatened to kill the young girl if she screamed. The older sister was charged with aggravated sexual assault, promoting prostitution and other crimes.

The seven-year-old girl reportedly put on her clothes after the attack and left the Trenton apartment building while her sister stayed behind, The Star-Ledger reported. Police said two strangers walked the crying child home.

Trenton Police Capt. Joseph Juniak called the crime “incomprehensible” and said the men who participated in the rape “need to be identified and brought to justice as soon as possible.”
 

[MuffyBee]

http://www.woai.com/news/local/story/Police-Teen-sold-7-year-old-stepsister-for-party/pXhELZaX3EaWu2-rx6eeZw.cspx
Police: Teen sold 7-year-old stepsister for party sex
Wednesday, March 31, 2010

TRENTON, N.J. (AP) -- Police in New Jersey's capital city have arrested a 15-year-old girl they say prostituted herself and her 7-year-old stepsister to have sex with as many as seven men and boys at a weekend party near their home in a crime-plagued neighborhood.

Trenton police Capt. Joseph Juniak said Wednesday that the older girl started by taking money to have sex with several men at the party in a high-rise apartment. The teen then gave some of the money she had collected to the younger girl to let the men start touching her, Juniak said.

The child later put on her clothes and two strangers walked the crying girl home while her sister stayed behind. She was treated at a hospital.

The teen is charged with aggravated sexual assault, promoting prostitution and other crimes. Her name was not released because of her age.

Police believe as many as a dozen people were at the party. They are trying to track down the men and boys who attended and are reviewing building surveillance videos.

Police said the girls were outside Sunday afternoon in the neighborhood when the 15-year-old ran into two young men she knew who invited her to a party at the apartment. Rather than leave the 7-year-old behind, the teen took her along.

At the party, the 15-year-old starting having sex with several of the men for money and then gave the younger girl some cash to let a group of men touch her, Juniak said. He would not say how much money was exchanged.

"It went from touching to straight out assault and rape," Juniak said. "They threatened to kill her if she screamed or told anyone."

The girls' parents reported them missing late Sunday afternoon. Police had just arrived at the home when the 7-year-old returned, Juniak said.

Trenton Mayor Doug Palmer called the crime "sickening" and said it was among the worst he's seen in his 20 years as mayor.

"The police are taking this personal," the mayor said. "I know there's a place in hell for all the people that participated in this and I'm sure they will get there."

"Personally as a father with a 7-year-old daughter, I can't imagine the horror," Palmer added.

The apartment building where the assault took place, Rowan Towers, sits in the shadow of the Statehouse and is well-known to police, who are hired by the building to handle security at night from 5 p.m. to 3 a.m.

It's unclear when the girls entered the building and whether any screams or cries were heard by anyone.

"Security can be certainly be increased," Juniak said.

[Tracygirl]

How awful...just horrible, that poor little girl. some people are just plain evil

[Nut44x4]

  It just keeps getting worse 

[MuffyBee]

http://www.woai.com/news/national/story/Mayor-27-arrested-in-NJ-where-girl-raped/Z61wWXSt-0e2t2uWwywBKw.cspx
Mayor: 27 arrested in NJ where girl raped
Thursday, April 1, 2010

TRENTON, N.J. (AP) — Police have arrested 27 people on outstanding warrants at a New Jersey apartment complex in Trenton where officials say a 7-year-old girl was gang raped.

Mayor Doug Palmer said Thursday's sweep of Rowan Towers was planned before the girl's attack and the arrests are unrelated at this point. But police hope the arrests will lead to tips that help them find who assaulted the girl.

Police say the child's 15-year-old stepsister sold her to have sex with as many as seven men and boys at a party Sunday in a vacant apartment. The stepsister has been arrested.

[MuffyBee]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/04/01/AR2010040101526.html
NJ man arrested in connection to gang-rape case
Thursday, April 1, 2010

Rowan Towers at 620 West State Street, in Trenton, N.J., is shown on Wednesday, March 31, 2010. The building was the site of a party where police say a 15-year-old sold her 7-year-old sister to have sex with as many as seven men and boys. Police say the child later put on her clothes and two strangers walked the crying girl home. She was treated at a hospital. Police say the teenager, who stayed behind, also took money to have sex with others at a party in the Trenton apartment on Sunday. The older girl is charged with aggravated sexual assault, promoting prostitution and other crimes. Her name was not released because of her age. (AP Photo/Rich Schultz) (Rich Schultz - AP)

RENTON, N.J. -- Police ramped up their investigation Thursday into the case of a 7-year-old girl who they say was gang-raped by a group of men while her 15-year-old stepsister watched and got paid for it.

Police conducted a pre-dawn raid at the troubled public housing complex, a high-rise apartment building so dangerous that officers are hired as security guards at night. They arrested a 20-year-old Trenton man on charges he had sex with the teenager in one of the apartments.

Gregory Joseph Leary was booked Wednesday night on charges of statutory rape and endangering the welfare of a child. Under New Jersey law, the 15-year-old is too young to consent to sex.

Leary was being held Thursday in jail on a $200,000 cash bond. Jail officials said Leary does not have a listed attorney.

Police said they are investigating whether Leary was involved with the rape of the 7-year-old at a party Sunday night in the apartment complex down the street from the Statehouse.

On Thursday morning, police arrested 27 people on unrelated outstanding warrants during a sweep of Rowan Towers. Trenton police Capt. Joseph Juniak said the raid was planned before the girl's attack but that it was "somewhat beneficial for investigators" looking into the child rape.

Many of those arrested Thursday were women who told The Associated Press the warrants were for minor infractions.
Residents said the assault was clearly at the forefront of police officers' agenda during the raid.

Tair Rivers, 27, said officers yelled, "What happened to the little girl?" as they arrested her for outstanding parking tickets.

Rivers lives in 13-H, an apartment right across from 13-C, where the party occurred. She said she was not home over the weekend but would not hesitate to tell police if she knew something.

"We all got kids," River said. "If we knew something, we would tell."

Police believe as many as a dozen people were at the party and said everyone in the apartment when the rape occurred could be legally culpable.
At the party, the 15-year-old starting having sex with several men for money and then gave the younger girl some cash to let a group of men touch her as she looked on, police said. It soon escalated to rape and the men threatened to kill the child if she screamed or told anyone, according to police.

Police are reviewing surveillance videos at the complex.

According to police, the teenager and the 7-year-old were outside in the neighborhood Sunday when the older girl ran into two young men she knew who invited her to the party. The 7-year-old wanted to tag along because she was worried about the older girl's safety.

The girl later put on her clothes and left the apartment; her older sister stayed. Two women found the child crying outside the apartment and walked her home.

The teenager's name was not released because of her age, but the county prosecutor plans to ask the court to try her as an adult. It was not clear who was representing the girl in juvenile court.

Interstate Realty Management Company, which manages the 15-story building, said about 150 people live there, and many of the apartments are vacant.

The raid Thursday sends a message, Trenton Mayor Doug Palmer said.

"This is only the beginning," Palmer said. "We're not going to rest until that area is cleaned up so that decent people can live without the threat of fear and violence."

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie on Thursday called the incident "deplorable" in his first public comments on the crime that occurred in the shadow of the New Jersey Statehouse.

---

[MuffyBee]

http://cbs3.com/topstories/Trenton.Man.Arrested.2.1605828.html
(Video Avail)
Arrest Made In Connection To Trenton Sex Assault
Thursday, March 1, 2010

Gregory Joseph Leary, 20.
CBS
   
Trenton Police have announced an arrest in connection to the ongoing investigation of the sexual assault of minor that occurred in the Rowan Towers on Sunday evening.

Gregory Joseph Leary, 20, was arrested Wednesday night and charged with two counts of Aggravated Sexual Assault and Endangering the Welfare of a Child for his involvement in sexual acts with a 15-year-old girl.

Trenton detectives have been working around the clock to identify all the individuals that sexually assaulted the15 year-old girl and her 7 year-old stepsister during a party in an apartment on the 13th floor of the Rowan Towers Apartment Building.

On Thursday, 27 people were arrested on outstanding warrants at the apartment complex where officials are trying to gain more information about participants of Sunday's incident.

Detectives say they are in the midst of identifying all individuals that were present at the time of the attack and strongly anticipate additional arrests to be made.

The 15-year-old girl is being held at the Mercer County Youth Detention Center on charges of Endangering the Welfare of a Child among other charges for her role in allowing the 7-year-old sister to be sexually assaulted.

Leary is being held in the Trenton Police lockup awaiting arraignment in the Municipal Court.

[MuffyBee]

http://www.kvue.com/news/national/89797567.html
Retaliation fears slow NJ case of gang-raped child
Friday, April 2, 2010

TRENTON, N.J. (AP) — Mayor Douglas Palmer is pleading with residents of a downtrodden neighborhood in Trenton, N.J., to come forward with information on the recent gang rape of a 7-year-old girl.

Palmer says people around the Rowan Tower apartments, where the rape took place, have not come forward in the past with information.

He cites a reward offered for help in the 2009 drive-by shooting death of a 13-year-old girl.

Police say a 15-year-old girl went to a party at the building March 28 and offered her younger stepsister's body for sale to a group of grown men.

Police arrested a 20-year-old Trenton man Wednesday on allegations of having sex with the 15-year-old, but they believe at least seven other men who were involved are still at large.

[Nut44x4]

 

[MuffyBee]

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_TEEN_SISTER_SEX?SITE=TXSAE&SECTION=US&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2010-04-03-16-17-47
5 charged in gang rape of girl, 7, in NJ apartment
(Video Avail)
Saturday, April 3, 2010

 TRENTON, N.J. (AP) -- Two adults and three juveniles have been charged with gang-raping a 7-year-old girl who was sold by her 15-year-old stepsister during a party at a crime-ridden apartment building, police said Saturday. Details on the arrests were announced at a Saturday night news conference at police headquarters in Trenton, the state's capital city.

The arrested people include a 20-year-old man who already had been charged Friday with having sex with the 15-year-old. The other four are a 19-year-old Trenton man and boys ages 13, 14 and 17. Each was charged with aggravated sexual assault and child endangerment.

Police said further arrests may be made in the case, which shocked residents of the gritty Rowan Towers apartment building.

Authorities say the 7-year-old girl was offered for sale by her stepsister on March 28. They say the stepsister went to a party with some men at Rowan Towers and the younger girl tagged along because she worried about her stepsister's safety.

Police say the 15-year-old sold sex to men, then took money to let them touch the younger girl. They say touching turned to forcible sex as at least seven men raped the 7-year-old. 

Before Saturday's arrest announcement, the 15-year-old had been charged with promoting prostitution, aggravated sexual assault and other crimes; police have not released her name, and she remained in juvenile detention Saturday night.

Mayor Doug Palmer said he met with the victim's relatives at his office on Thursday to offer help and make sure they were able to move out of the neighborhood over safety concerns.

"We made sure they got out of the area," he said Saturday afternoon, before the news conference.

He credited the police force for its hard work but said "we're still not finished." He pledged to spare no expense "to make sure that everyone responsible is brought to justice."

"We're still asking the community to let us know if they have any more information on this heinous crime," he said.

Palmer met with the parents, the 7-year-old girl and her two younger siblings. The woman is the mother of the 7-year-old girl, and the man she lives with is the father of the 15-year-old. The man and woman also have two toddlers together.

He said police officers had taken the case "very personally."

Police Director Irving Bradley would only say "it's still an active investigation."

Police earlier in the week were urging residents to come forward, but neighbors said they were scared of retaliation from gangs that prowl the streets if they spoke up.

Rowan Towers sits on a stretch of West State Street near downtown Trenton and is surrounded by blocks of abandoned, boarded-up homes. It's fronted by a well-manicured lawn and features a colorful playground and a basketball court. An American flag hangs from a pole to the right of the front door.

[MuffyBee]

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/2010/04/03/2010-04-03_five_arrested_in_gang_rape_of_7yearold_nj_girl_sold_like_prostitute_by_15yearold.html
Five arrested in gang rape of 7-year-old NJ girl sold like prostitute by stepsister
Saturday, April 3, 2010

Protesters gather outside a vacant apartment 13C at Rowan Towers in Trenton, N.J., in protest of the recent gang rape of a 7-year-old girl in the apartment.
  The girl's own 15-year-old stepsister sold her like a prostitute at the party, police said.

Two adults and three juveniles were arrested Saturday for the gang rape of a 7-year-old Trenton, N.J. girl who was sold like a prostitute by her stepsister, cops said.

The horrible crime happened at a crowded apartment last Sunday. The teen left the girl unattended while she had sex for money with several men, cops said.

After she was done, the teen told her stepsister to let the men touch her.

"It went from touching to straight out assault and rape," Trenton Police Capt. Joseph Juniak said at the time. "They threatened to kill her if she screamed or told anyone."

The stepsister was charged with aggravated sexual assault, promoting prostitution and other crimes.

Details of Saturday's arrests were not immediately available.

[MuffyBee]

http://www.necn.com/04/03/10/5-charged-with-gang-rape-of-7-year-old-m/landing.html?blockID=209459&feedID=4215
(Video at above link)
5 charged with gang rape of 7-year-old; more arrests anticipated
Saturday, March 3, 2010

(NECN/WPVI: Trenton, N.J.) - Two adults and three juveniles were charged with the gang-rape of a seven-year-old girl sold by her 15-year-old stepsister, police said Saturday.

Those arrested include a 20-year-old man who had already been charged Friday with having sex with the 15-year-old girl.  The others are a 19-year-old Trenton man and three boys ages 13, 14 and 17 -- each charged with aggravated sexual assault and child endangerment.

"This is not over.  There are individuals out there that are still responsible, and we will identify them and we will arrest them," Trenton Police Capt. Joseph Juniak said.

He said there were persons of interest in the case.

Authorities said the seven-year-old girl was offered for sale by her stepsister on March 28th.  They said the teen went to a party with some men on the 13th floor of the Rowan Towers apartment building, and that the younger girl tagged along out of concern for her stepsister's safety.

Police say the 15-year-old sold sex to men, then took money to let them touch the younger girl. They say touching turned to forcible sex as at least seven men raped the 7-year-old.

Though he admitted that gang association was being investigated, Capt. Juniak said it was not the driving factor in the case.

"This is not gang-specific, this crime.  This is a crime of sexual assault," Capt. Juniak said.  "It wasn't because you belonged to a gang that this occurred.  This is because they made a decision behind closed doors to take advantage of two girls."

The 15-year-old has been charged with promoting prostitution, aggravated sexual assault and other crimes; she remained in juvenile detention Saturday night.

Trenton Mayor Doug Palmer said he worked with agencies to get the family out of the neighborhood, and he intends to move the family out for good, because the seven-year-old would be "stigmatized."

"We need to stop pointing fingers at the family members," Mayor Palmer said, revealing that the mother called police early on to say their children were not home.  "These rapists are the problem, not the family."

[MuffyBee]

http://www.trentonian.com/articles/2010/04/02/news/doc4bb6328b71d58822499603.txt

Rowan workers 'shaken' by double rape at Trenton high rise

Friday, April 2, 2010
TRENTON -- Reporting that its “caring’’ employees at the Rowan Towers are “shaken’’ by the allegations sisters aged 15 and 7 were gang raped there, the owner today said more security cameras will be installed in the troubled apartment building.

“Everyone is shaken up over it,’’ said Laura Zaner, speaking for Affordable Housing Equity Partners, the Burlington County company that has owned the building since the mid 1980s.

“But we are cooperating fully, we’re in touch with police on a daily basis. We’ve been meeting with the police prior to this incident happening.’’

Zaner said the company spends about $300,000 a year on security, which includes the cost of surveillance cameras already in place as well as the pay for the off-duty Trenton cops who work there as security officers.

She commented soon after one of the tower managers told The Trentonian that many of those who took part in the sordid events last weekend actually don’t live in the high-rise and were attending a big party there.

Often the scene of wild crimes, the latest Rowan incident has made national headlines because of the unheard of details of the case. The older sister, who at 15 is under the age of legal sexual consent, reportedly took on several men, then took money to pimped out the little sister, whose rape could land the men in prison for at least 20 years.

Twenty-year-old Gregory Leary of Trenton has been charged with taking part in the gang rape of the older girl. With help from Rowan surveillance videos suppled by the management, city detectives have been trying to identify the other men who took part in both gang bangs.

Of its workers at the Rowan complex, Zaner said all are “compassionate and caring people who are committed to their jobs. They are committed to the residents there.’’

AHEP, based in Marlton, has been in business as the landlord of rental housing for poor people since 1982. Zaner said the rent on all 195 apartments is paid by the federal government known as Section 8, which is intended to help the aged, infirm and others unable to work for a variety of reason.

Many landlords love the program because the rent comes on time every month from Uncle Sam. The same program funds those in a Trenton shelter, also owned by another benevolent-sounding corporation, that recently made headlines because of crime and bedbugs there and word that the feds are paying $600 a month for a 12 by 12 room at the place.

The mission of AHEP, according to its Web site, is to “raise capital to invest solely in high quality affordable housing developments in partnership with developers with proven history of success and with a management agent with a thorough knowledge of the low-income housing credit program and an agent that is highly respected in the affordable housing industry.”

The Rowan building is one of 44 nationwide owned by AHEP, which said it has $138.5 million invested in the total 7,570 housing units. Its Web site also said it has $1.95 million invested in the Rowan complex.

[MuffyBee]

http://www.trentonian.com/articles/2010/04/03/news/doc4bb67ab2de09c871798110.txt
Was rape of Trenton 7-year-old a gang initiation rite?
Saturday, April 3, 2010

TRENTON — Investigators are trying to determine if the rapes of girls aged 7 and 15 last week at the Rowan Towers were part of some gang initiation rite, the city chief of detectives said today.

A police source added, meanwhile, that the uncooperative teenage girl who is both victim and suspect in the case initially gave detectives the names of two men they hauled in but ended up releasing because they probably didn’t do it.

In addition, the granduncle of the 7-year-old said the girls might be known as sisters but are not related at all.

Capt. Joe Juniak, the top detective, spoke of the possibility of a gang connection to the two rapes as his investigators continued trying to identify who was at the wild party on Rowan’s 13th floor last Sunday when the teenager consented to be gang raped for money and then allegedly took cash to pimp out the little girl she had brought along to what was called a “tattoo” party.

The teenager, who has been charged with complicity in the rape of the 7-year-old and endangering the welfare of a child, initially corroborated details of the rapes but since has stopped cooperating with investigators. The police source also said she gave cops the names of two guys not involved, in a possible bid to protect the actual perpetrators.

Juniak said the probe has detectives talking with many potential witnesses from the Rowan, on West State Street in the West Ward, and the surrounding neighborhood: “There were a lot of people going in and out of that room,” Juniak said.

“We’ve spoken to many people, but in a lot of cases we’re not getting names of potential suspects. The information is more about knowing a person by sight, but not knowing a person, if you know what I mean.”

But even familiarity by sight might be enough to help the cops track down a suspect or someone who knows what happened at the “tattoo” party, according to the younger girl’s granduncle, John McMiller.

“The older girl’s not talking,’’ said McMiller. “She’s not telling nothing.”

[MuffyBee]

http://www.trentonian.com/articles/2010/04/03/news/doc4bb659283a812673296135.txt
SOURCE: Trenton man accused of raping 15-year-old is a gang affiliate fresh out of juvie jail
Saturday, April 3, 2010


By JOE D'AQUILA
Staff Writer

Click to enlarge

Gregory J. Leary, 20, of Trenton, is accused of raping the 15-year-old girl who then pimped out her 7-year-old step-sister.

TRENTON — The one man charged with sexual assault in connection with the gang rape of a 7-year-old girl Sunday, is a recent graduate of the state’s Juvenile Justice System and a known gang affiliate.

A source with knowledge of the JJC, who asked to remain anonymous, said Gregory J. Leary, 20, of Trenton, was released from a juvenile jail just about a year ago.

Leary was charged Wednesday night with two counts of aggravated sexual assault against the 15-year-old girl involved in the case, and with endangering the welfare of a child.

The 15-year-old allegedly had sex willingly with a group of men for money, but because Leary is an adult, he has been charged with the rape of the juvenile.

The teen girl has been charged for also facilitating the gang rape of her 7-year-old step-sister at the same party in the Rowan Towers on Sunday evening.

The JJC source said he didn’t believe Leary had any sex crimes on his juvenile record, but said he was incarcerated for drug offenses and gang activity.

While he couldn’t say for certain, Trenton Police Captain Joe Juniak, whose Criminal Investigations Bureau has been leading the investigation, said his detectives are looking into the possibility that the rapes of the two girls could have been in someway gang-related, possibly as some type of initiation rite.

The 15-year-old girl has been charged with complicity in an aggravated sexual assault, criminal restraint, terroristic threats, endangering the welfare of a child, and promoting prostitution.

While police have intimated that the girl has behavioral problems in the past, a police source yesterday said the 15-year-old, whose name is being held by The Trentonian, has no juvenile criminal record.

The girl initially corroborated the details of the rape story to police, but has since stopped cooperating, according to a source.

The source said the teen named a pair of males as two of the many partners she had that night. But detectives ended up letting them both go, believing they were not involved and that the girl may have lied to protect the actual perpetrators.

[MuffyBee]

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/04/nyregion/04trenton.html
Six Arrested After Girl, 7, Is Gang-Raped in New Jersey
Saturday, April 3, 2010
New Jersey officials announced on Saturday six arrests in connection with the gang rape of a 7-year-old girl who investigators believe was sold for sex by her 15-year-old stepsister at a party in a Trenton high-rise last weekend.

The developments followed an intense, weeklong inquiry into what occurred on March 28 in a 13th-floor apartment at the Rowan Towers complex on West State Street, near the State Capitol. Officials said they expected to make more arrests in the coming days.

Investigators arrested one man, Gregory Joseph Leary, 20, of Trenton, on Thursday and charged him with raping the 15-year-old girl, whom the authorities did not identify. Another man Tiemear Lewis, 19, of Trenton, was also charged in the case, officials said.

Joseph L. Bocchini Jr., the Mercer County prosecutor, said his office would likely seek to try at least one of three juveniles who were charged, ages 17, 14 and 13, in adult court.

But the 15-year-old girl may have been more than a victim, the authorities said.

She also was arrested this week on aggravated sexual assault and other charges “for her role in allowing her 7-year-old sister to be sexually assaulted,” the police said in a statement. The girl was remanded to the Mercer County Youth Detention Center.

Trenton officials said that the 15-year-old is accused of first having sex for money herself, then accepting cash to let men touch the 7-year-old. That touching then led to rape by multiple men, according to the investigation, which is continuing, officials said.

At a news conference at the city’s police headquarters on Saturday evening, Mayor Douglas H. Palmer of Trenton said: “Good people came forward to try and get justice for this 7-year-old angel, who was brutally gang-raped by pedophile animals. Everyone that was responsible is still not arrested. Police won’t rest until we get every one.”

Officials said the two sisters went together to a party in the high-rise, where they were both assaulted.

The 7-year-old girl told the police she knew the party was trouble, but she went because she wanted to protect her sister, Mr. Palmer said. Both girls had been on the blotters of various child welfare services, he said.

The girls had been reported missing to the Trenton police at the time of the episode, Mr. Bocchini said.

Mr. Palmer said the 7-year-old met him at his office on Thursday, and he gave her a stuffed Easter bunny. But the family will soon be moved out of the area, he said, because “she will be stigmatized.”

Mr. Palmer said the girl told him: “Everybody’s staring at me. They know it’s me.”

[MuffyBee]

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/nation/6950339.html
Girl's stepdad defends 3 accused of raping her
N.J. man says they were trying to help, not hurt, the child
Thursday, April 8, 2010


A lawyer for one of the suspects, Gregory Leary, shown above in a court TV image, suggested that the child had been pressured to make up the story.

TRENTON, N.J. — A horrifying case — a gang rape of a 7-year-old sold by her teenage stepsister to armed men — grew more bizarre when the girl's stepfather showed up outside the Trenton courthouse on Thursday to say that three of the five accused had actually tried to help the girl.

He was summoned to the courthouse by family members of the suspects, who have his phone number on speed dial, a seemingly strange alliance amid a crime that has inflamed a poor community.

“These three had nothing to do with nothing; I don't know why they locked them up,” the stepfather said of Gregory Leary, 20; Timear Lewis, 19, and a 17-year-old whom authorities have not identified because of his age.

The Associated Press generally does not identify people alleging sex crimes and is not naming the stepfather to avoid identifying the girl.

In all, five men and boys have been arrested on suspicion of raping the girl. The other suspects are ages 13 and 14. The 15-year-old stepsister also has been charged with promoting prostitution.

Lewis is scheduled to make his first court appearance on Friday. It was his mother who called the girl's stepfather, imploring him to come to the courthouse to talk to reporters.

“Please tell them my son did not do this,” Tracy Lewis said. “He was there but he didn't touch anyone.”

Police say there is DNA evidence of the crime, but the prosecution may hinge on the word of a little girl, her troubled stepsister and the other men and boys who watched the crime.

According to police, the 7-year-old was prostituted out by her 15-year-old stepsister, who watched as she was raped by as many as seven men and boys at a party at the Rowan Tower apartments on March 28. As many as a dozen people were at the party, held in a vacant apartment in the crime-plagued public housing complex not far from the New Jersey Statehouse.

Investigators said that soon after arriving, the older girl took money to have sex with several men at a party, including Leary. The teen then gave some of the money she had collected to the younger girl to let the men start touching her. It soon escalated to rape, police said, and the men threatened to kill the child if she screamed or told anyone, police said.

The girl later put on her clothes and left the apartment; her older stepsister stayed, police say. Two women found the child crying outside the apartment and walked her home, where police were waiting because the girls' parents had reported them missing.

The girl told police what happened and her sister was soon found and arrested.

“She should have never took my daughter there,” the father said of his 15-year-old.

While the father thinks that three of the men may have tried to get the young girl out of the apartment, he doesn't dispute the fact that she was raped by several men.

“My daughter said these guys were trying to help her,” he said. “If you had a gun pointed to your head, you wouldn't be able to do nothing, either.”

Community tension

The confusing case had already strained relations among police and residents and management of the troubled Rowan Tower downtown apartment building where the crime took place.

“They think because we are poor that they can ruin our lives,” Tracy Lewis said.

After the case, police and the mayor held news conferences and said they were taking the case personally. Days later, police conducted a pre-dawn raid on the public housing complex, arresting 27 people who lived there on warrants for violations such as outstanding parking tickets.

In a contentious meeting, the police director and building managers talked with residents, vowing to increase security at a building that already uses uniformed Trenton police as nighttime doormen.

Mayor Doug Palmer met with the 7-year-old girl and her family in his office last week and gave the girl a stuffed bunny rabbit for Easter. He said the family is getting counseling and indicated it may be permanently relocated away from the city.

Leary's lawyer suggested Thursday in court that the child had been pressured to make up the story.

“She was not raped, was not gang-raped,” Robin Lord said, adding that the girl's memory is “forever tainted” because she's been given toys, gifts and money.

Leary is charged with aggravated sexual assault and endangering the welfare of a child. He made his first court appearance Thursday and was ordered held on $500,000 bail. He is also accused of statutory rape; police and his attorney say he has admitted having sex with the 15-year-old.

Assistant Prosecutor Jennifer Downing said Leary denied having sex with the younger girl. However, she said several witnesses at the party told police they saw Leary “on top of the 7-year-old,” raping her.

Police have said they expect additional arrests.

———