Friday, September 6, 2002
The 13-year-old boy is suspected of sexually assaulting four children, including a sister.
By MARALINE KUBIK
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER
CAMPBELL -- Police took a 13-year-old Harold Lane boy into custody Wednesday morning after a girl and boy, both 6, told police the older boy had raped them.
Two other children, also reported to have been sexually assaulted, were placed in the care of Mahoning County Children Services.
According to police reports, the legal guardian of the two 6-year-olds saw a stain on the girl's underwear while doing laundry Tuesday. When she examined the child, the woman discovered a large amount of blood.
The child told the woman that a 13-year-old boy had hurt both her and the boy while they were at a friend's home last weekend.
When asked, the 6-year-old boy confirmed the little girl's story.
Police questioned both children in separate rooms at the hospital and both said that the older boy attacked them while the suspect's mother was at the store.
The father of another girl who lives in the same house with the juvenile suspect told police that his daughter, the half sister of the suspect, had been sexually assaulted by the boy the weekend before and has been diagnosed with gonorrhea.
The father said he filed a report with Youngstown police when he learned his daughter had been assaulted. However, the girl identified a family friend and not her brother in that report, he said.
What happened
According to the Campbell police report, the girl later told her father's girlfriend that she had lied and it was her brother who attacked her, in the basement of their home.
The girl did not initially identify her brother because she was afraid of getting him into trouble, the report states.
The father's girlfriend told police that another child who lives at the residence had also been sexually assaulted, the Campbell report states.
That child and the half sister were placed in the care of Children Services early Wednesday.
The suspect is being held in the county Juvenile Justice Center, pending a hearing to determine if there is enough evidence to charge him. No date has been set, but the hearing must take place by Friday.
kubik@vindy.com