2 teens testify in rape trial

The victims said they were paid for their silence.
By BOB JACKSON
VINDICATOR COURTHOUSE REPORTER
YOUNGSTOWN -- Jose Manuel Rosado sat motionless and without expression Friday as two young girls testified that he had molested them for years.
Rosado, 38, of Lanterman Road, is on trial in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court, charged with 20 counts of rape. The trial is in the courtroom of Judge Robert Lisotto.
The girls, whom Rosado knew, are now 16 and 15.
Neither girl said Rosado actually had intercourse with her, but both said he had fondled them and had other sexual contact with them. He threatened to hurt them if they told anyone, and sometimes paid them to keep quiet, they said.
Pornography: Both girls told jurors that Rosado would make them watch pornographic movies with him, and then have them "play copycat" by imitating with him what was happening in the movie. He would also make them play strip poker.
The older girl testified that beginning when she was 11 or 12, Rosado sometimes gave her beer or marijuana before having sexual contact with her.
She said the assaults began when she was 6 and happened about three times a week until last November, when the younger girl finally spoke up about what was happening. The younger victim said she was 7 when the assaults started. She also testified that it happened about three times a week.
Both girls became emotional on the witness stand, and both described the encounters as "nasty."
Blames wife: During his opening statements, defense attorney Douglas B. Taylor said Rosado's wife persuaded the girls to make the rape allegations in retaliation for his having an extramarital affair.
"Her ultimate objective was to get him out of the house. He was out seeing another woman and she wasn't going to stand for it," Taylor told the six male and six female jurors.
Taylor said the couple had a turbulent relationship that included pornography, drugs, alcohol and violence.
"The evidence will clearly show that this family is dysfunctional," he said.
However, jurors heard a taped confession Rosado made to police shortly after the assaults were reported. Rosado faces life in prison without parole if he is convicted.
bjackson@vindy.com