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Teens Sneaked Out Of Group Home Before Allegedly Raping Woman In Chinatown
By
Jen Chung
Published Jun 3, 2015
Modified Jun 3, 2015
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By
Jen Chung
Published Jun 3, 2015
Modified Jun 3, 2015
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The three 16-year-olds accused of beating and raping a woman in Chinatown on Monday morning are all residents of a group home in Brooklyn.
Sources tell the NY Post they sneaked out of the Boys Town residence on Sunday night and "later stopped by an Internet café at 75 Eldridge St. that they’d frequented before."
Early Monday morning, they spotted a 33-year-old woman who was already high on some Special K she had scored at the café, sources said.
The teens started groping her within clear view of 10 to 15 people — then dragged her out the door to a nearby building, sources said.
Inside the building, Pek and Burrows raped her, according to law-enforcement sources. They also beat her up so badly she was left “unrecognizable,” a source said.
The teens, identified by police as Eric Pek, Emanuel Burrows and Sanata Asliev, took possession of the victim's credit cards, ID and keys, then took a cab—using her credit card—to her Chelsea apartment in an apparent attempt to steal items. However, her roommate was home and managed to keep the door closed. Video shows the suspects entering the building, going up the stairs and then later running down the stairs;
The NY Times obtained surveillance footage of the victim going to a bodega for help:
First, the woman is seen pausing outside the 24-hour deli, at the corner of Canal and Eldridge Streets. It is still dark and she appears unsteady on her feet. A man with an umbrella guides her toward the deli’s entrance. She enters, holding onto the glass doors, bleeding, with her white shirt bloodstained and seemingly torn on one side. She speaks with a worker and some customers at the counter.
“She asked us to call the cops for her, so they gave her some napkins and towels,” said Niff Alarage, 37, the owner of the deli, who shared the video footage with police and played it for a reporter on Tuesday.“She said there was three guys,” Mr. Alarage said. “They beat her.”
The victim is in stable condition at Bellevue Hospital.
The three suspects then went back to the group home, and later Tuesday morning, police arrived to arrest them. (Apparently someone at the Internet cafe tipped off the cops.) The Times notes that residents of Boys Town, a nonprofit that helps children of both sexes, usually "have been abused or neglected or have been in the juvenile justice system."
Pek and Burrows were charged with rape, robbery, assault, burglary and grand larceny while Asliev was charged with attempted rape, assault and attempted burglary. Pek and Asliev have prior arrest records. The three are being charged as adults.
Tagged
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Boys Town
Chinatown
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Jen Chung
Jen Chung is a former WNYC and Gothamist editor.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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