by Patrick H. Moore
In an appalling example of moral bankruptcy, up to 13 Texas men cheered as they filmed each other gang-raping a 13-year-old runaway girl at the Avalon Palms Apartments on Northgate Boulevard in Austin, Texas. The victim, whose name is being withheld due to her age, had run away from the Settlement Home for Children, an Austin foster care and adoption facility.
The girl reported the rape to the Austin police, explaining that after running away, she had been picked up by three Hispanic men in a white car and taken to Apt. 292, overlooking the pool, in the Avalon Palms Apartments. The first man to rape her was 24-year-old Juan Lozano Ortega. Showing a despicable cowardice and lack of humanity, the other men cheered Ortega on and filmed the assault on their cellphones. It then progressed into a full scale gang-rape with between 10 to 13 adult males raping the child. According to the affidavit, the sexual assault — which began on June 29th — lasted into the early hours on June 3oth.
After the men were done with her, she was driven to a nearby neighborhood and told “to find somewhere to go.”
KTBC television in Austin reports that Ortega and 26-year-old Edgar Gerardo Guzman Perez were arrested on July 17th in connection with the crime. They are being held on $30,000 bond and have had immigration detainers placed on them which means that even if they are successful in raising the bond, they are unlikely to be released.
In what amounts to a huge break, the police were able to track down Ortega and Perez because at some point during the evening, either Ortega or Perez let the victim borrow his cellphone to call her foster brother at the Settlement Home. The girl’s foster brother captured the caller ID, which the police were then able to trace, which in turn led to the arrests.
The evidence gathered during a forensic exam of the victim supported her version of the events.
Based on Texas law, if Ortega and Perez are found guilty of aggravated sexual assault of a child, they could each be sentenced to life in prison. The police are naturally continuing to search for the additional suspects.
The Settlement Home for Children, which takes care of abused and neglected girls under 18, is also being scrutinized by state child welfare investigators. Both the Settlement Home and the Austin police have declined to comment on the case.
The Avalon Apartments have stated that they will be circulating fliers describing the incident.