TRENTON, N.J. (AP) - Two adults and three juveniles have been arrested in the gang rape of a 7-year-old girl sold by her stepsister, police said. One of the adults was identified as Gregory Joseph Leary.
Details on the arrests were to be announced at a Saturday night news conference at police headquarters in the state’s capital city.
Authorities say the girl was offered for sale by her 15-year-old stepsister on March 28. They say the teen went to a party with some men on the 13th floor of the Rowan Towers apartment building and the younger girl tagged along because she worried about her stepsister’s safety.
Police say the 15-year-old sold sex to men, then took money to let them touch the younger girl. They say touching turned to forcible sex as at least seven men raped the 7-year-old.
The 15-year-old has been charged with promoting prostitution, aggravated sexual assault and other crimes; police have not released her name.
A 20-year-old man had previously been charged with having sex with the 15-year-old, but police don’t know who might have attacked the 7-year-old. They say, though, that someone in Rowan Tower does and are urging, even threatening, neighbors to identify them.
Rowan Tower has a bad reputation. Gangs walk the streets nearby, and police are a constant, and some say ineffective, presence at the 15-story apartment building a stone’s throw from the Statehouse’s golden dome.
A 13-year-old girl was killed last year in a drive-by shooting a block away, and no one stepped forward to help police identify the attackers.
Rowan Tower sits on a stretch of West State Street near downtown Trenton and is surrounded by blocks of abandoned, boarded-up homes. It’s fronted by a well-manicured lawn and features a colorful playground and a basketball court. An American flag hangs from a pole to the right of the front door.
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