Authorities in Maryland have charged two teens with kidnapping and raping a classmate and police say a third suspect is at large.
Police said in court documents that a female acquaintance of the victim may have persuaded the suspects to act, The Frederick News-Post reported on Wednesday.
Police said the girl told them she was grabbed while walking home on Sept. 2, taken to an apartment and sexually assaulted.
According to police, she said two were classmates who allegedly told her they were acting on orders from the younger female acquaintance.
Frederick authorities charged 19-year-old Victor Antonio Gonzalez-Guttierres and 17-year-old Edgar Natanal Chicas-Hernandez, who’s charged as an adult.
Police didn’t identify the third suspect.
Court documents don’t identify the female acquaintance, who repeatedly denied involvement.
Frederick authorities charged 19-year-old Victor Antonio Gonzalez-Guttierres (left) and 17-year-old Edgar Natanal Chicas-Hernandez (right), who’s charged as an adult
It wasn’t clear if any had lawyers.
‘This is very, very rare in my experience,’ said Detective Joe Palkovic of the Frederick Police Department.
‘The violence of it and the nature of the crime, the fact that this involves someone laying in wait, kidnapping the victim and then taking her to a separate location to rape her, is very rare.’
On September 5, two police officers were called to a home near Hillcrest to speak to a female high school student about the alleged assault, according to court documents.
The girl told the officers that she was grabbed from behind by the hair as she was walking home after midnight on September 2.
According to the documents, the girl recognized two young boys from her class – Gonzalez-Guttierres and Chicas-Hernandez.
A third male suspect was with the other two.
They allegedly slapped the girl. One of them is alleged to have pulled a knife and cut the girl’s chest.
Authorities say the three men took the girl’s cellphone and dragged her to a nearby car.
They then told the girl that they were acting on orders from a younger female acquaintance.
The three men forced a rag into the girl’s mouth and drove her to an apartment in the city, according to court papers.
‘This is very, very rare in my experience. The violence of it and the nature of the crime, the fact that this involves someone laying in wait, kidnapping the victim and then taking her to a separate location to rape her, is very rare.’ – Detective Joe Palkovic
Police allege that Gonzalez-Guttierres and Chicas-Hernandez took turns raping the girl over the course of a few hours.
The third suspect had his face covered and was not identifiable to the girl, she told police. She also did not recognize his voice.
He is alleged to have recorded the crime on his cellphone.
‘The third, unidentified man mentioned in the charging documents has not been charged. … As the investigation continues, however, we do anticipate there being additional charges in this case,’ said Lt. Clark Pennington, commander of the police department’s Criminal Investigations Division.
After the alleged rape, the three drove the girl back to where she was first abducted.
She was warned that if she notified the police, ‘next time it will be worse.’
Despite the threats, the girl came forward and spoke to police.
Investigators also spoke with several boys who were contacted on social media by the alleged mastermind of the plot.
The girl who allegedly planned the crime is said to have revealed her role during social media conversations, which were obtained by police.
She allegedly offered to show one of her social media friends the footage of the crime in exchange for ‘[one] night of pleasure.’
In her statements to police, the younger girl who allegedly masterminded the kidnapping and rape denied any role in the crime, saying that claims by the male suspects that they acted at her behest were false.
Gonzalez-Guttierres and Chicas-Hernandez are being charged with kidnapping, first-degree rape, sodomy, and first- and second-degree assault.
Though Chicas-Hernandez is a minor, the severity of the crimes prompted prosecutors to charge him as an adult.