4 Suspects Appear In Court In Brooklyn Rape, 5th Under Arrest
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork/AP) -- Four teenage suspects were arraigned Tuesday night, and a fifth was being held, in connection with an alleged gang rape of a Brooklyn woman last week.
Police identified the four facing charges as two 15-year-old boys, one 14-year-old boy, and one 17-year-old boy. It was not immediately clear whether they would all be prosecuted as adults.
The defendants did not enter pleas in court Tuesday night. Attorneys questioned evidence in the case and denied that the boys raped the woman.
The attorney for the youngest suspect said police had video that showed the defendants' innocence.
"It's not indicative of anyone under force and, it's not indicative of anyone who's been beaten or bruised, and it's not indicative of anyone who shows any bruises to their face," said attorney Kenneth Montgomery.
Another defense attorney accused prosecutors of playing politics.
The Brooklyn District Attorney's office asked for $500,000 bail for each suspect. The bonds that were set for the suspects varied.
Meanwhile, the fifth suspect has been identified as a 17-year-old boy. Police said he is the accused ringleader in the case and is the one accused of threatening the victim's father with a gun, CBS2's Janelle Burrell reported.
The other four suspects were held as adults earlier Tuesday on charges of rape by forcible compulsion, criminal sex act and sexual abuse, police said.
Community leaders were once again expressing their disgust Tuesday morning.
"It's outrage that a woman in this community would be allegedly raped," said community activist Tony Herbert.
The incident happened last Thursday night inside Osborne Park in Brownsville.
Sources said the 18-year-old victim admits she had been drinking in the park with her father when the teens approached, Burrell reported.
Police said one of the teens threatened the father with a gun, ordering him to leave. When the father left to get help, that's when investigators said the teens took turns raping his daughter.
According to sources, two of the suspects said the incident with the woman was consensual, Burrell reported.
"This thing has so many twists and turns, it's ridiculous, but at the end of the day we just want to make sure we do right and make sure those who committed this crime go to jail," said Herbert.
Chief of Detectives Robert Boyce said he believes the victim's story is credible, WCBS 880's Ginny Kosola reported.
"Everything she said seemed credible and the father's narrative was exactly the same," Boyce said.
Over the weekend, police released surveillance video of the suspects from a bodega before the incident.
Two of the young men were later turned in by their parents while two others were found by police, authorities said. The fifth suspect was picked up by police at his high school in Brooklyn Tuesday morning.
It's unclear if the gun that was allegedly used in the incident has been recovered. Boyce said he does not believe the attack was premeditated.
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