Adult, 3 minors charged in alleged gang rape of teenage girl at homecoming dance in California

4 charged in alleged gang rape of girl in Calif.

RICHMOND, Calif. — Four teens have been charged with the alleged gang rape of a 15-year-old girl outside her high school homecoming dance in Northern California.

Richmond Police Lt. Mark Gagan says all four suspects — ages 15, 16, 17 and 19 — are facing rape charges with enhancements that could make them eligible for life in prison.

Gagan says the three minors were charged Wednesday with felony rape with a foreign object. The 16-year-old is also facing robbery charges.

The 19-year-old, Manuel Ortega of Richmond, has been charged with rape in concert, as well as robbery and assault causing great bodily injury. All four are in custody and could appear in court as early as Thursday.

A fifth person arrested has not yet been charged.

Police say the girl was attacked Saturday night in a dimly lit area outside Richmond High School.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP’s earlier story is below.

RICHMOND, Calif. (AP) — Three more people have been arrested in connection with the gang rape and beating of a 15-year-old girl outside her high school homecoming dance in an attack that has generated widespread outrage.

A man and two boys were arrested late Tuesday, including 21-year-old Salvador Rodriguez of Richmond, Calif., and two teens, 16 and 17. They were each booked on one count of gang rape and likely face other charges including robbery and kidnapping.

“These are people who played a significant role in the incident,” Richmond Police Lt. Mark Gagan said Wednesday. “I’m confident that more arrests will be made.”

The arrests bring to five the number of people taken into custody in the attack that occurred Saturday night at Richmond High School, located in the San Francisco Bay area. The attacks and its aftermath have rattled Richmond, Calif., a crime-ridden city of about 120,000 in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Police believe as many as 10 people ranging in age from 15 to mid-20s attacked the girl for more than two hours at a dimly lit area near benches Saturday night. As many as two dozen people saw the rape without notifying police.

The victim, a sophomore, had left the dance and was drinking alcohol in a school courtyard with a group when she was attacked, police said.

Officers found the girl semiconscious and naked from the waist down near a picnic table. She remains hospitalized with non-life threatening injuries.

Police also hope a $20,000 reward will bring more people forward with any information.

Gagan said the girl left the dance and was walking to meet her father for a ride home when a classmate invited her to join a group drinking in the courtyard. The girl had consumed a large amount of alcohol by the time the assault began, police said. Gagan said the girl’s father tried to call her cell phone, but no one answered.

Police received a tip about a possible assault on campus from a young woman, a former student, who heard two males bragging about it.

The victim was found nearly an hour after the dance had ended.