On Saturday, police in Morgan Hill, California arrested a 16-year-old boy on suspicion of raping and burglarizing a 40-year-old woman whom the boy had helped home earlier in the night. The woman had been drinking at a bar in the town south of San Jose on Friday night before catching a ride home in a cab. The boy happened to be driving by in a car with his mother when the cab driver asked them for help getting the woman inside her home. The boy allegedly returned later in the night and raped her.
Even later that night, the boy returned a second time with his 15-year-old girlfriend and another female friend. According to Morgan Hill detectives, the three teens looted the woman's house for over $1,000 in cash, jewelry and a video game console. Police found the boy after a neighbor walked by the crime scene and asked how the victim was doing. The neighbor apparently knew that the boy had helped the victim inside the house and officers later found the stolen goods at his house less than 100 yards away.
All three teens were arrested Saturday on suspicion of residential burglary, conspiracy and violation of juvenile probation. The 16-year-old boy was also charged with rape of an intoxicated person. The victim "was intoxicated and in fear," according to Morgan Hill Police captain Shane Palsgrove. She was reportedly semi-conscious and aware the assault was happening, but she "played possum." Palsgrove said she was unable to see the suspect and did not know he was a juvenile.
Authorities do not believe that the girls knew about the rape. All three of them live nearby.
[CBS5]
[Mercury News]