Suspects in rape of disabled teen videotaped crime, police say

MARIETTA, Ga. - The suspects accused of raping and molesting a 13-year-old mentally disabled girl videotaped part of the crime, authorities said.

District Attorney Pat Head would not say what the videotape revealed, but said he did not plan to show it to the grand jury.

Up to 25 males - ages 12 to 25 - raped and molested the girl for 12 hours after luring her off of a bicycle and into an apartment building, police said Wednesday.

Eight suspects have been arrested and warrants were issued for three others sought in the Oct. 13-14 attack, Cobb County police spokesman Dana Pierce said.

Police said four men leaving a high school football game met the girl on her bicycle and persuaded her to accompany them to an apartment. They raped the girl and then took her to an abandoned apartment in the same complex, where as many as 20 males attacked her, police said.

The girl returned home about 4 a.m. on Oct. 14, her mother told police.

''She told her mother she knew something had happened to her that shouldn't have,'' Pierce said. The victim's mother took her to a hospital, where she was treated and released.

Arrested were Christopher Wyatt, 24; Cornell Lyons, 17; Jamon Aiken, 17; and Charles Grant, 19, all of Marietta; Taurean Green, 17; and Isaac Anthony Cummings, 18, both of Smyrna, and two juveniles. Police have issued warrants for two others, and a 12-year-old boy also is being sought on a juvenile complaint.

Because of the girl's mental condition, investigators said they have been unable to determine how the teen knew the men. They would not say what led them to the suspects.

Tenants at the apartment complex said they are scared of young men who hang out around the complex.

Maria Capiz, 18, said she does not let her son play outside for more than 30 minutes a day.

''I don't trust it here,'' Capiz said. ''I don't want what happened to that little girl happening to me or to my niece or my son.''

''If somebody can do such a horrible thing to a child - only 13 years old - than what next?'' added Shataquia Lewis.

Sexual assaults against the disabled are probably underreported because victims are unable to explain what happened or are perceived as unreliable witnesses, said Jennifer Bivins, a victim advocate at the Southern Crescent Sexual Assault Center in Jonesboro.

''I think it's probably more common than people realize,'' she said.

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