Two charged with threats in Steubenville rape case
Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine, right, answers questions about successful prosecution of two juveniles in rape case during news conference March 17, 2013 / AP
COLUMBUS, Ohio A day after two high school football players were convicted of raping a 16-year-old girl, authorities arrested two Ohio girls suspected of making online threats against the accuser.
Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine said the girls arrested Monday posted threatening comments on Twitter on Sunday, the day the players were convicted in Steubenville. One of the messages was later reposted on Facebook.
The rape case brought international attention to the small city of 18,000 and led to allegations of a cover-up to protect the Steubenville High School football team.
Steubenville police Capt. Joel Walker said the Jefferson County girls, ages 15 and 16, were being held in juvenile detention.
The older girl was charged with aggravated menacing for a tweet that threatened homicide and said "you ripped my family apart," according to the attorney general's office. A Twitter message from the younger girl threatened the accuser with bodily harm, leading to a menacing charge, the office said.
Rape convictions handed to Steubenville students
"These arrests, I hope, will end the harassment of the victim," DeWine said. "We are simply not going to tolerate this. Enough is enough."
The guilty verdict was barely an hour old Sunday when DeWine said he was continuing his investigation and would consider charges against anyone who failed to speak up after the attack last August. That group could include other teens, parents, school officials and coaches for the high school's beloved football team, which has won nine state championships.
A grand jury will meet in mid-April to consider evidence gathered by investigators from dozens of interviews, including with the football program's 27 coaches, which include junior high, freshman and volunteer coaches.
Steubenville rape case: Trent Mays, Ma'lik Richmond apologize to court
Text messages introduced at trial suggested the head coach was aware of the rape allegation early on. Reno Saccoccia "took care of it," defendant Trent Mays said in one text introduced by prosecutors.
DeWine said coaches are among officials required by state law to report suspected child abuse. Saccoccia has not commented.
Steubenville city manager Cathy Davison said residents want to see justice done, and the city will be better off going forward because of the wider investigation.
Steubenville schools Superintendent Mike McVey released a statement Monday reiterating his position that the district was waiting until the trial ended to take action. He declined to address the grand jury investigation.
It's unclear what could happen to the school's sports programs if coaches were charged. Sanctions against teams or programs typically involve violations of rules related to playing, such as improper recruiting of student-athletes or playing ineligible athletes, said Tim Stried, spokesman for the Ohio High School Athletic Association.
Mays and Ma'Lik Richmond were charged with penetrating the West Virginia girl with their fingers, first in the back seat of a moving car after a mostly underage drinking party on Aug. 11, and then in the basement of a house.
Mays, 17, and Richmond, 16, were sentenced to at least a year in juvenile prison for the rapes. Mays was ordered to serve an additional year for photographing the underage girl naked.
They can be held until they turn 21.
Special Judge Thomas Lipps recommended the boys be assigned to Lighthouse Youth Center-Paint Creek in Chillicothe which he said has a strong program for treating juvenile sex offenders.
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She should not have been raped.
She should acknowledge that she should stop drinking. First of all, it's illegal for a 16 year old to be consuming alchohol and second of all, she doesn't know how to hold her liquor.
Geez, I guess if she had only been able to hold her liquor those guys might have respected her basic dignity and moved into dignity and moved on to someone else ...
I am disgusted with ALL of them, the victim, her parents and the rapists.
I hope she thinks before she gets that drunk again.
I stand by my opinion and hope that you don't have kids.
This is a very sad situation, and, the only good thing to come from it is the potential teaching tool it represents for showing the thousands of little punks out there how to behave toward the girls, and the girls how important it is not to place themselves in a position of vulnerability.
As for the two girls who allelgedly made the threats, obviously, the older one is a sibling of one of the defendants. The younger one is likely a sibling too. The only person who "ripped her family apart" was her punk brother when he decided to rape that girl.
I honestly hate the "she was drunk" excuse because, even if you don't mean to, you're shifting some of the blame from the rapists to the victim. "The young lady made herself vulnerable." I know you follow that up with it not being an excuse, but all I see is, "I'm not saying it's her fault, but it's kind of her fault."
Women are always "vulnerable," no matter where we are, what we're wearing or how drunk we are. Just because Jane Doe was unconscious doesn't mean she forfeited her right to her body and her right to not be violated. It doesn't make any of this her fault. Does it matter how much she had to drink? No. She should feel perfectly safe getting as drunk as she wants, when she wants and where she wants without worrying about people violating her, taking pictures of her naked and passed out, or peeing on her.
The only people responsible for the rape are the rapists.
Because if this had happened under any circumstances — say, for instance, she wasn't drunk but was in alone in a parking garage at 3 a.m. — someone would still say, "She made herself vulnerable by being alone in a parking garage at 3 a.m." The Steubenville case shouldn't be one to show "girls how important it is not to place themselves in a position of vulnerability." Ever. EVER. It should only serve to show that we have a FLOURISHING rape culture and that boys/men should learn how to treat girls/women like people, not objects.
Now when I write this, there is always a great outcry that the boys should rescue girls and not rape them. I agree they should not rape girls who are too drunk to consent to sex. An obligation to rescue however creates a world where girls drink themselves into oblivion and then rely on boys to deliver them to safety. That effectively makes the boys unpaid chauffeurs, not citizens and certainly not friends. Girls who are too drunk should be put out of the car, and then the boys should call 911 and report a public drunk.
It's not just legally responsible thing to do, but it's the surest way to avoid an allegation that the girl was drugged, and not just incredibly drunk by her own choice. The police will test her for all types of drugs once they pick her up.
Your knowledge of the law couldn't fill a THIMBLE! It doesn't matter HOW many times you say it. And, no, the police do NOT always "test for all kinds of drugs". You're a complete FOOL!
Isn't that how it works if a man drinks? If he is responsible then she is too.
Therefore either throw all in jail or none of them. You can't have it both ways.
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BLUDAPFEL
You just don't get it. I wonder if you are simply thick or a troll.
The girl went to a party with friends she trusted. If she got drunk on her own volition then she only was to harm herself.
BUT BUT BUT those boys were part of a gang who styled themselves as the RAPE CREW. Their intention was to violate, rape and humiliate the girl as an ACT OF REVENGE. Their actions was intention to cause harm to others.
What part of that don't you get? I find it bizarre that you don't get the difference between her getting drunk which would be causing herself harm and only herself and the boys who want to cause harm to another.
Now if she got drunk got into a car and drove off and kill a person then yeah she deserve to go to jail. BUT she didn't drive a car instead she was in the back of a car being raped.
When a person gets drunk they are doing something "to themselves"...that girl getting drunk was was an action only done to herself --> she was not harming anyone else in the process (and yes, if she had gotten drunk, then driven and hurt someone else then she would be responsible for her actions).
Those boys did something "to someone else" -- they caused unspeakable harm to that girl and should be held responsible accordingly.
I would HOPE that would include those two dimwits who made public threats against the victim in addition to the charges against them already listed in the article.
Maybe the accuser was a tile or two short of a full scrabble set and maybe she shouldn't have hung with that crowd to begin with, but there was no excuse for what was done to her. Instead of vilifying her, those two young women would have been better served in venting their bile at Trent and his chum, Ma'lik.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2295419/Reno-Saccoccia-charges-Steubenville-football-coach-face-charges-failing-report-rape-told-star-players-hed-make-away.html#ixzz2O0WutTIP
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For anyone working with children it is imperative that you report any hints of child abuse to the authorities. Coach Reno FAILED to do so.