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| October 22, 2008: 3 teens arrested in girl's assault |
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Posted: Thursday, December 3, 2009 2:46 pm
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(ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED OCT. 22, 2008)
By GERRY L. DICKERT
The Bee
Two Silsbee High School football players have bonded out of jail after being accused of sexual assault of a child in the alleged attack on a Silsbee varsity cheerleader at a party late Saturday night.
A third person, a 16-year-old boy, who is also being accused of being involved in the attack, was being held by the Hardin County juvenile department as of Tuesday afternoon.
According to Silsbee Police Chief Dennis Allen, officers from his department were called out at about 2:40 a.m. Sunday in reference to a sexual assault that is said to have taken place at 324 Pinewood in Silsbee.
After officers responded, they met with the victim, a 16-year-old female, who claimed she had been sexually assaulted during a party that was attended by several students from Silsbee High School.
According to Chief Allen, the victim is a cheerleader at the high school while at least two of the suspects in the attack are football players.
They are identified as Rakheem Bolton, 17, and Christian Paul Rountree, 18, both of Silsbee.
The girl has accused the three young men of cornering her in a room in the house where the party was taking place, locking the door to the room and assaulting her sexually.
Chief Allen said that when the girl screamed out for help, others at the party attempted to get into the room, which prompted the three men in question to jump from a bathroom window to escape.
The girl was taken by her family to St. Elizabeth Hospital in Beaumont where a rape kit was administered. That kit will be turned over to the Texas Department of Public Safety crime lab. Officials say there was DNA evidence found that could possibly link one of the teens to the crime. Results of the DNA testing could take as long as four month to be returned.
After further investigation at the scene and with interviews from witnesses, Silsbee police filed a probable cause affidavit with Justice of the Peace Robert Ward, who then issued arrest warrants for the three young men.
Bolton was arrested at the home of his grandmother, where he resides, while Rountree and the 16-year-old suspect were arrested on campus at Silsbee High School.
They were taken to the Silsbee Police Department, then transferred to the Hardin County Jail where they were initially being held on $100,000 bond each.
Bolton and Rountree posted bond as of Tuesday morning, according to Chief Allen. As to the disposition of the juvenile, Allen was uncertain as of Tuesday afternoon.
Sexual assault of a child, the charge which each of the three men are facing, carries a possible sentence of two to 20 years in the Texas Department of Corrections and up to a $10,000 fine.
None of the three young men have any prior convictions, according to Chief Allen.
“There is still lots of field work to do,” said Allen. “We are gathering photographs of the area and re-interviewing some of the witnesses.”
According to Chief Allen, one of the three boys involved has been cooperative with the investigation.
“Some reports were that she (the victim) was held down during the attack, but those facts are being disputed,” he said. “The investigation is ongoing.”
An interview with the owner of the home and her son was scheduled to take place Tuesday afternoon. Chief Allen said that he expected the woman to be charged with providing alcohol to minors.
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