Two 'attackers laughed and joked' about assaulting girl, 16, who was 'gang-raped by up to TWENTY men

Publish date: 2024-05-22

By Lydia Warren

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Two of the men accused of taking part in a horrific gang rape of a 16-year-old girl were 'laughing and joking' about the attack the following day, one of their friends has testified.

Jose Montano, 22, and Marcelles Peter, 20, each face life in prison if convicted of assaulting the girl in Richmond, California after she left her high school homecoming dance in October 2009.

As many as twenty men allegedly attacked her after plying her with alcohol. She was found bloody, bruised and covered in urine beneath a picnic table by police officers.

On Thursday, a former high school student told the court in Contra Costa that Montano, Peter and a third acquaintance had laughed about how they participated in the assault.

Jose Carlos Montano Marcelles Peter

'Vile': Jose Montano, 22, (left) and Marcelles Peter, 20, (right) laughed about participating in a gang-rape on a 16-year-old girl after her homecoming dance in October 2009, a witness has testified

'I was uncomfortable talking about the situation because it made me feel like that type of thing should never happen at any schoolhouse,' the man said, the Contra Costa Times reported.

The witness, who is not being named due to his fears for his safety, testified that Montano said he had sex with her and Peter said he violated her with his fingers. The third man, Ari Morales, said he urinated on her.

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The witness, who was a freshman at the time, said he was at home when the attack unfolded, but attorneys pointed out this contradicted previous claims he had seen the assault and tried to help her.

But in court on Thursday, the man, who is now 19, said officers put words into his mouth. He added that he had originally avoided speaking to authorities as he didn't want to testify.

He explained that he was 'sort of afraid of what might happen' if he did.

In chains: Earlier this week, suspects (from right) Elvis Torrentes, John Crane Jr. and Jose Montano walk to a preliminary hearing in Martinez. As many as 20 men are believed to have attacked the girl

In chains: Earlier this week, suspects (from right) Elvis Torrentes, John Crane Jr. and Jose Montano walk to a preliminary hearing in Martinez. As many as 20 men are believed to have attacked the girl

On trial: Montano's attorney said while he witnessed the grisly attack, he had no part in it

On trial: Montano's attorney said while he witnessed the grisly attack, he had no part in it

In court: Peter initially said he was not at the crime scene, but later told them he only had a 'small role'

In court: Peter initially said he was not at the crime scene, but later told them he only had a 'small role'

The testimony came after other witnesses described the horrifying attack in 2009.

Contra Costa County Deputy District Attorney John Cope described on Monday how police found the girl propped up by a metal beam under a picnic table half-naked and bloodied.

He explained how the girl, feeling bored and hot, had left the school dance and went outside to phone her father when she encountered a male classmate who asked her if she wanted to come and 'party' with them.

After drinking brandy with the boys, things took a turn for the worst, the San Francisco Chronicle reports.

Witnesses will testify that the victim was punched, kicked and dragged around the area. She was assaulted with a walkie-talkie and someone urinated on her. Others watching were invited to join in.

Scene: In a photo taken October 27, 2009, police cars sit parked outside Richmond High School in Richmond, California, where a 16-year-old girl was plied with alcohol, robbed, beaten and gang-raped

Scene: In a photo taken October 27, 2009, police cars sit parked outside Richmond High School in Richmond, California, where a 16-year-old girl was plied with alcohol, robbed, beaten and gang-raped

As many as 20 men are thought to have participated in the attack, Cope told the jury, with one even answering the girl's cell phone and telling her father how good his daughter was at sexual acts.

Prosecutors also said how two condoms, a can of energy drink and a Four Loko were found at the scene.

Peter's attorney Gordon Brown told the jury in his opening statement that DNA evidence found in a condom at the scene was unreliable and that the crime scene had been compromised.

He said that wind from the helicopter could have compromised evidence at the scene and carried Peter's DNA from a beer can to a broken used condom found in the courtyard.

'I don't think we will ever know all that happened,' Brown told the jury.

She was 'incoherent and barely conscious' and covered in alcohol, urine and dirt. Cope said Peter took part in the more than two-hour assault on the girl after she was plied with alcohol.

Ari Morales Manuel Ortega

Jailed: Ari Morales, left, who told the witness that he had urinated on the girl during the attack, and Manuel Ortega, right, and agreed to plea deals and are serving 32 and 27 years respectively

John Crane Jr Elvis Torrentes

'Participants': John Crane Jr, 43, left, turned himself into police after the incident and Elvis Torrentes, right, faces charges including aiding the act of rape that could land him in prison for 26 years

She had a blood alcohol level of .35 and has no memory of the attack.

On Tuesday, the father of the girl also revealed the horrifying moment he received a vulgar call from his daughter's cell phone from one of her attackers boasting how good she was at sex.

Richmond police officer Todd Kaiser added on Thursday that he told the victim's father, who raced to the campus and searched for his daughter for about an hour, that he believed she had been raped.

The father started screaming and shaking a nearby fence as he struggled to deal with the news.

Kaiser said the owner of the fence told the devastated man: 'Hey, if you need to rip that fence out of the ground, you do what you have to do.'

His daughter passed by the man on a gurney and he saw her horribly beaten face and the vomit that was in her hair, the Mercury News said.

Richmond High School: Students walk past a sign during gym class before a rally and vigil concerning the gang rape of a 16-year-old girl outside of Richmond High School's homecoming dance in 2009

Richmond High School: Students walk past a sign during gym class before a rally and vigil concerning the gang rape of a 16-year-old girl outside of Richmond High School's homecoming dance in 2009

'I told her that we loved her very much and to hold on,' he said. 'I could see she was not conscious enough to respond back.'

Peter is charged with three criminal counts of forcible rape, rape by foreign object and forced oral copulation. Each count alleges that he acted in concert with others and inflicted great bodily injuries on the victim. Montano faces similar charges.

Manuel Ortega and Ari Morales agreed to plea deals and are serving 32 and 27 years, respectively. They are expected to testify against Peter and Montano.

'I wasn't the only one, there was hell of people,' one officer recounted Ortega saying in custody.

Two others, John Crane Jr and Elvis Torrentes, still await trial.

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