Torrington High School rape cases

Last updated

The Torrington High School rape case refers to five separate rape cases in Torrington, Connecticut, United States, involving 6 former Torrington High School football players and two other Torrington teens. [1]

Contents

In a 2013 case, Joan Toribio and Edgar Gonzalez, both 18-year-old former football players from Torrington High School, were convicted in the sexual assault of two 13-year-old girls in Torrington, Connecticut. [2] [3] [4] Joan Toribio was sentenced to 9 months in prison. [5] Edgar Gonzalez was sentenced to six years in prison. [6]

In a 2011 case, Kenuel Weaver-Hunt, 17, and Dylan Rodriguez, 16, pleaded guilty to charges of risk of injury to a minor with illicit sexual contact, a class "D" felony. [7] Both were sentenced to five years in prison, suspended after four months served. [8] Alec Berkemeier, 16, was charged with second-degree sexual assault and risk of injury to a minor with illicit sexual contact, but reached a deal with the prosecutors that included a provision to seal the records of the case. [9]

Controversy

Torrington High School gained notoriety for its students' victim blaming cyberbullying of the two 13-year-old girls through social media. The Register Citizen, a local newspaper, published images of Twitter posts that defended the accused and attacked the victims. [10] [2] [3] [4] A Houston-based law firm that specializes in defense of those accused of sex crimes claimed a possible failure in responsibility on the part of parents and teachers to make students aware of the legal implications of their actions. [11]

See also

Related Research Articles

Torrington, Connecticut City in Connecticut, United States

Torrington is the most populated municipality and only city in Litchfield County, Connecticut and the Northwest Hills region. It is also the core city of Greater Torrington, one of the largest micropolitan areas in the United States. The city population was 36,383 according to the 2010 census.

Gang rape, also called serial gang rape, group rape, or multiple perpetrator rape in scholarly literature, is the rape of a single victim by two or more violators. Gang rapes are forged on shared identity of the same religion, ethnic group, or race. There are multiple motives for serial gang rapes, such as for sexual entitlement, asserting sexual prowess, war, punishment, and, in up to 30% of cases, for targeting another race, ethnic group or religion.

Ian Watkins (Lostprophets singer) Welsh singer, musician, and convicted sex offender

Ian David Karslake Watkins is a Welsh convicted sex offender and former singer, songwriter, and musician. He achieved prominence as the co-founder, lead vocalist, and lyricist of the rock band Lostprophets. In 2013, he was sentenced to 29 years of imprisonment for multiple sexual offences, including the sexual assault of young children and babies. Lostprophets disbanded shortly thereafter and the other members formed the band No Devotion, with American singer Geoff Rickly replacing Watkins.

In common law jurisdictions, statutory rape is nonforcible sexual activity in which one of the individuals is below the age of consent. Although it usually refers to adults engaging in sexual contact with minors under the age of consent, it is a generic term, and very few jurisdictions use the actual term statutory rape in the language of statutes.

Cheshire, Connecticut, home invasion murders Rape and murders committed by two men in 2007

The Cheshire, Connecticut, home invasion murders occurred on July 23, 2007, when Joshua Komisarjevsky and Steven Hayes invaded the residence of the Petit family in Cheshire, Connecticut, United States. Dr. William Petit was severely injured. His wife Jennifer Hawke-Petit and his two daughters, 17-year-old Hayley Petit and 11-year-old Michaela Petit, were all murdered.

In August 2011, a female American high-school student named Savannah Dietrich was sexually assaulted by Will Frey and Austin Zehnder, lacrosse players from Trinity High School (Louisville), an exclusive Catholic high school in Louisville, Kentucky. The assault was photographed by Frey and Zehnder and other observers, and images and comments from the incident went viral on the internet.

The Steubenville High School rape occurred in Steubenville, Ohio on the night of August 11, 2012, when a high school girl, incapacitated by alcohol, was publicly and repeatedly sexually assaulted by her peers, several of whom documented the acts on social media. The victim was transported, undressed, photographed, and sexually assaulted. She was also penetrated vaginally by other students' fingers, an act defined as rape under Ohio law.

Suicide of Rehtaeh Parsons Suicide of a student in Canada

On April 4, 2013, Rehtaeh Parsons, a 17-year-old former Cole Harbour District High School student, attempted suicide by hanging at her home in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, Canada, leading to a coma and the decision to switch her life support machine off on April 7, 2013. Her death has been attributed to online distribution of photos of an alleged gang rape that occurred 17 months prior to her suicide, in November 2011. On a Facebook page set up in tribute to her daughter, Parsons' mother blamed the four boys who allegedly raped and released images of her, the subsequent constant "bullying and messaging and harassment", and the failure of the Canadian justice system, for her daughter's decision to commit suicide.

Suicide of Audrie Pott Suicide of an American teenager

Audrie Taylor Pott was a 15-year-old student at Saratoga High School in Saratoga, California, who died by suicide. She had been sexually assaulted at a party eight days earlier by three 16-year-old boys she knew, and nude pictures of her were posted online with accompanying bullying.

Rape in Saudi Arabia is regulated by Islamic law, which is the basis for the legal system of Saudi Arabia. Under Islamic law, the punishment which a court can impose on the rapist may range from flogging to execution. However, there is no penal code in Saudi Arabia, and there is no written law which specifically criminalizes rape or prescribes its punishment. In addition, there is no prohibition of marital rape.

Rex Barnett is an American politician and former member of the Missouri State Highway Patrol.

Child sexual abuse in the United Kingdom Overview about child sexual abuse in the United Kingdom

Child sexual abuse in the United Kingdom has been reported in the country throughout its history. In about 90% of cases the abuser is a person known to the child. However, cases during the second half of the twentieth century, involving religious institutions, schools, popular entertainers, politicians, military personnel, and other officials, have been revealed and widely publicised since the beginning of the twenty-first century. Child sexual abuse rings in numerous towns and cities across the UK have also drawn considerable attention.

The legal system of the United Arab Emirates is based on the civil law system with influences from Islamic, French, Roman and Egyptian laws.

<i>Audrie & Daisy</i> 2016 American film

Audrie & Daisy is an American 2016 documentary film about two cases of rape of teenage American girls, in 2011 and 2012.

After a sexual assault or rape, victims are often subjected to scrutiny and, in some cases, mistreatment. Victims undergo medical examinations and are interviewed by police. If there is a criminal trial, victims suffer a loss of privacy and their credibility may be challenged. Victims may also become the target of slut-shaming, abuse, social stigmatization, sexual slurs and cyberbullying.

Daisy Coleman American advocate for victims of sexual abuse

Catherine Daisy Coleman was an American sexual assault victim advocate who was the subject of the 2016 documentary film Audrie & Daisy, for which she received a Cinema Eye Honor. Coleman co-founded the non-profit organization SafeBAE, which was aimed at preventing sexual assault in schools. She died by suicide at the age of 23.

William Devin Howell American serial killer

William Devin Howell is an American serial killer who was convicted of murdering seven women in 2003. He is one of the most prolific serial killers in Connecticut history. In November 2017, while already serving a 15-year prison sentence for manslaughter, he was sentenced to six consecutive life sentences, which he is currently serving at Cheshire Correctional Institution.

The Vanderbilt rape case refers to a case in Nashville, Tennessee, United States, in which on June 23, 2013, four Vanderbilt University football players carried an unconscious 21-year-old female student into a dorm room, gang-raped and sodomized her, photographed and videotaped her, and one urinated on her face.

James Talbot is an American Jesuit priest, teacher, and coach who was convicted of raping multiple students over a period of several decades.

References

  1. Glenza, Jessica (2013-04-30). "Three more Torrington teens face jail in another rape case". Cosmopolitan.com. Retrieved 2016-05-19.
  2. 1 2 Baker, Al (March 20, 2013). "Sex Charges in Connecticut Are Dissected on Internet". New York Times. Retrieved April 13, 2013.
  3. 1 2 Sanchez, Ray (March 21, 2013). "Shades of Ohio case in Connecticut football player rape case". Reuters. Retrieved April 13, 2013.
  4. 1 2 Levs, Josh; Candiotti, Susan; Levitt, Ross (March 22, 2013). "Rape accusations, teens, and Twitter attacks in another U.S. town". CNN. Retrieved April 13, 2013.
  5. Avilucea, Isaac (2013-11-19). "Torrington rape case: Former football player Joan Toribio sentenced to 9 months in prison". The Register Citizen. Retrieved 2016-05-19.
  6. "Edgar Gonzalez, former Torrington High School MVP, sentenced to six years in prison, for rape of 13-year-old". The Register Citizen. 2013-09-06. Retrieved 2016-05-19.
  7. Glenza, Jessica (2013-04-30). "Three more Torrington teens face jail in another rape case". Cosmopolitan.com. Retrieved 2016-05-19.
  8. Cleary, Tom (2013-05-03). "Torrington teens sentenced to 4 months in prison in 2011 rape case". The Register Citizen. Retrieved 2016-05-19.
  9. Ruthman, Brigitte (2013-11-23). "Unknown deal in rape case as terms include sealing sentence details". Republican-American. Retrieved 2016-05-19.
  10. Glenza, Jessica (March 20, 2013). "Victim bullied after rape allegations against Torrington football players". The Register Citizen. Retrieved April 13, 2013.
  11. Scheiner, Grant. "Blog The Legal Complexity of the Torrington High School Rape Case". Scheiner Law Group, P.C. Retrieved 2 August 2015.