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| Henry Sanchez |
Earlier this morning, the Washington Post reported that rape charges against the second suspect, Henry Sanchez, would also be dropped. The Post reported that he, too, would face child pornography charges, for having images of the alleged rape victim that were forwarded to him by Montano.
What we are not hearing, are the specifics regarding why prosecutors dropped the charges. Whatever evidence they are working with has obviously not been made public. Dropping the charges means the public is essentially being told a violent sexual encounter between a 14-year-old girl and two men in a school bathroom was a consensual and legal act. That is hard to believe, as Sanchez's defense attorney acknowledged to the Post. The public has a right to know what is going on here, in regard to the justification for dropping charges.
Equally important: If Montano is indeed being released, will he be arrested by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency (ICE)? ICE has declined to comment publicly on Montano, citing his age. But both Montano and Sanchez were detained by the Border Patrol after illegally entering the U.S. last year, and set free to family members under the Obama administration's "Catch and Release" policy. ICE did place a detainer on Sanchez. Will the County alert ICE to Montano's release, and Sanchez's release, should it occur?
Stay tuned.
The prosecutor trying to save face by going after child porn charges over high schoolers sexting is really absurd and a complete waste of public resources.
ReplyDeleteI was suspicious over this whole case to begin with. It just never made sense to me that a teen could be violently gang raped in a public high school bathroom in the middle of the day without somebody walking in or hearing some sign of struggle from the hallway.
ReplyDeleteMy suspicion is that it was consensual sex (which makes even more sense when you consider that she had texted pictures), and afterward as word started spreading the young girl freaked out and came up with a rape scenario.
And I say this from my perspective as a woman who has been sexually assaulted herself and is the mother of a young daughter. I err on the side of believing the victim, but in this case it never added up to me.
Unfortunately, Dyer wasn't nearly as careful in analysis of this case.
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