A Vista man was arraigned Thursday on one count of unlawful sexual intercourse with a girl he met online who initially told authorities she had been raped by three strangers.
Jose A. Cano, 20, pleaded not guilty to charges he lured a 15-year-old Encinitas girl he met online to meet him and have consensual sex last Friday. He was ordered held without bail while authorities decide if he is in the country illegally.
Shortly after her parents reported her missing last Friday, the girl turned up and claimed she had been abducted by three men and raped, prompting sheriff's deputies to launch a multi-prong effort to find the attackers the girl had described. She eventually admitted making up the story.
Deputy District Attorney Katherine Flaherty said the girl is "doing as well as can be expected."
A laptop believed to belong to Cano has been seized and authorities are researching its hard drive to determine if Cano tried to lure other underage girls into sexual trysts, Flaherty said after Cano's brief court appearance before Judge Joan Weber at the Vista Courthouse.
A decision on whether the girl will be charged with filing a false report has not yet been made, Flaherty said.
"The investigation is ongoing and she is a necessary witness in this case," Flaherty said. "The reality is that at times children do fabricate stories if they think they are going to get into trouble."
The girl told authorities she made up the story of being abducted to avoid having to tell her family what really happened.
Flaherty, who often is assigned to sex crime cases, said the girl's fabrication is uncommon.
"The vast majority of sexual assault victims come to this courthouse and testify truthfully about what happened to them," she said.
Another lesson from the case is that parents need to exercise constant oversight of their children's use of the Internet, Flaherty said.
"Parents can't be too vigilant," she said.
Authorities are continuing to study whether Cano will face additional charges, which could include contacting a minor online with the intent to commit a sex crime.
The crime he is charged with can be prosecuted either as a misdemeanor or a felony, Flaherty said. A decision on which way to go hasn't been made, she said.
If the case is treated as a misdemeanor and he is convicted, Cano would face a maximum of 12 months in the county jail. If it's handled as a felony and he's convicted, he could face up to three years in state prison.
Authorities say Cano met the teen through mocospace.com, which touts itself as "the world's largest mobile social network."
Cano has been in trouble before. He was arrested in December on misdemeanor methamphetamine charges. On Jan. 5, he pleaded guilty to a reduced charge of disorderly conduct and was sentenced to time served.
After he was released, agents from the federal Immigrations and Customs Enforcement returned him to Mexico.
He is under an immigration hold again, but if that is released, the judge set his bail at $20,000.
Cano's parents and other family members attended Thursday's arraignment. There was no sign of the girl or her family in the courtroom.
[FRS Comment] - One has to wonder, just how old, this young woman told Mr. Cano she was?
Link:
http://www.nctimes.com/news/local/sdcounty/article_c4983ac8-c91e-5e13-a2d2-5c2e1ca12ec6.html
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This is the story behind the Discussion I linked to in the previous post (False Rape Accusations Have Racial Implications) [Arod99k - consider it an olive branch my extending to you. There is a lot that you and I can probably agree on, and I'd like to try to find some unity on those rather than where we've been headed].
That discussion sought to address whether false rape convictions tended to target minority communities (in this case, Latino's) possibly because those who are looking to make FRA's are also looking to appeal to a broader distrust (to put it mildly) of those communities, estimating that they are more likely to be believed if they say that a black or Hispanic man (or men) was their attacker.
Now, in this particular story, they may be a bit off-base, as the girl in herself Hispanic, her actual lover also Hispanic, as were the three fictional characters she claimed had raped her (this may simply be a case of “going with what you know”, and she is more familiar with Hispanic men, and thus it would be easier for her to fabricate descriptions of them as opposed to men of a different race or ethnicity).
Yet, I see two rater impotent things in that discussion. First, and most obvious, it hardly seems a secret that minorities appear to be more likely to be targeted than white or Asian men, with black men having been especially target historically. We see that in the pattern of Jim Crow era lynching (a significant portion have been due to rape allegations, many of which were likely simply women lying for attention or women throwing their lovers under the bus…er, into the noose for the sake of their reputations), and even in the percentages of those falsely imprisoned prior to the acceptance (and now, virtual requirement of) DNA evidence. It seems that in any number of cases, if a woman and other witness could pick out a black man as her attacker, that was good enough for LE to pursue.
[Blogger’s been chocking on post of more than 2,000 characters lately, so I’m just going to routinely break them up]
The second thing that stands out to me about this discussion (on KPBS radio in San Diego, CA) is that it is nothing short of a tacit admission of the fact that FRA’s are occurring regularly. It seems that quite a few people are actually aware, but seem reluctant to admit to it, nor discuss it. But, for some more liberally minded folks, it seems a “back door” into such a discuss is the potential disparate impact on minority communities. I don’t know much about this particular radio station (perhaps Arod might), but it appears that it might be a liberal oriented talk radio station (thus the “BS” in it’s call letters – just joking, sort a), and I probably wouldn’t find much agreement with their normal topics.
But, if they’re going to be willing to bring up the reality of FRA’s, I say, “Fan-F’n-tasctic!, Let’s have more! Thank you KPBS!”
[FRS Comment] - One has to wonder, just how old, this young woman told Mr. Cano she was?
[Hum… I’m kinda feelingly like I’m dominating these threads today, but maybe everybody’s just burned-out from the recent in-fighting that been going on? Anyway….]
This is actually s very significant question to ask. Not that it would absolve Cano of having had sex with an under-aged girl (over 14, but greater than 4-years age difference, a.k.a. statutory rape), but it does bring up something which I believe absolutely does contribute to instances of statutory rape – girls lying about their ages.
In some (don’t know how many, but the number seems to be increasing) jurisdictions, detectives will not only investigate suspected rapists, they will also do an electronic investigation of the accusers (or statutory rape “victims”, as the case maybe). Of course, they are primarily concerned with uncovering “problems” with their case against the accuse that defense might later raise; but, what they often find is that underage girls are not only lying about their ages, but actually trolling for sex with older men themselves. This often goes hand-in-hand with their seeking access to alcohol and drugs (which older men can more easily secure for them). They even brag on their social network pages of their intentions to exchange sex for alcohol and drugs.
Of course, that they DO investigate the accusers is something that they try to keep quite about, and only look into sites that they can access via public channels (without the need to ask for a search warrant). It’s something that, while I’ve mentioned it before, I try to avoid bringing it up too often. If feminist “victim advocate” groups learn of that the practice is becoming wide-spread and routine, they’ll no doubt go ballistic and demand that it cease.
I learned about it a couple of years ago when my wife had such a case. A man in his twenties had met and had sex with a teenaged girl. But, when her on-line information was searched, it was learned that she was both lying about her true age (reporting that she was older), and stated that she was looking for guys over 21 to get alcohol from and to have sex with.
Now, you might think that this information might make things go easier on the guy, but, the only thing it could actually get for him was a lighter sentence from the judge. Here in Colorado, the “over 14 and less than 4 years age difference” is a no-compromise rule, anything else is statutory rape, and cannot be plead down.
And worse, you might think that the girl would be in trouble for lying about her age and trolling for sex on-line; but, only with her mother. There is no law against what she did (not here, and I doubt elsewhere). A juvenile can ask for just about anything – sex, drugs, alcohol – but, only a person who actually supplies any of these to that juvenile is actually breaking the law. Well, a juvenile can be charged for possession of drugs or alcohol once they are in possession of these – but, only if they are actually caught with them on their persons. Even if they admit to having had and consumed these thing on their social sites, it cannot be legally held against them.
[cut]
So what? Why am I rehashing all this? Is my ranting going anywhere?
Well, damn it! There oughtta be a law!
Two laws, actually. It should be illegal to represent oneself as being older in the furtherance of illegal activities (including such representations made via social media, but not verbalized in-person), and, furthermore, it should, by law, serve as a mitigating factor in assessing the culpability of an adult who is mislead into such illegal activities. In other words, it should have to be proven that he the adult knew, or should reasonably have been able to tell, that the juvenile was under-aged [obviously if a girl looks like she 15, it would be reasonable to expect that a 25 year old man should at least suspect it; but, some girls do look considerable older than what they actually are, and could easily fool most people. I’m not sure how to address the “subject” aspects here, I’m just saying that I believe that “there oughtta be a law!”] [/rant]
I have personally been affected by a scenario like this. A long time ago, I was a DJ. At the club we had this regular, very good looking girl come in every Friday and some Saturdays. She purchased drinks at the bar and drank excessively (as we all did in that club).
One night she says to me, lets find an after-party somewhere if you are up for it. I said yes. She found a party. We went. It wasn't really a party, it was myself, another guy and this girl.
She initiated and enthusiastically participated in sexual intercourse with both of us.
We hung out. We had drinks. We bullshitted. She said she needed a ride home as the sun was coming up. I drove her. She said drop me off at the corner or my parents will see you. I said, "Oh are you going to college here?" You see, there were several colleges in the area just outside the suburbs. I figured a person of drinking and clubbing age living with their parents might be going to college.
WRONG. She says, "I'm just a junior in high school." Needless to say, I went into immediate panic mode. She had been using that fake ID for over a year. She has had sex with half a dozen people in that club. Fortunately, nothing ever came of it, but she was banned from the club and a photo of her was circulated to local bars and clubs.
I have other stories about that club where there were actual subsequent false rape claims. HORROR stories. Lives ruined, families torn apart, and when it came out that it was all a lie people just shrugged. There attitude was, well he got lucky.
If a 24 year old man has sex with a 14 year old girl he is a rapist.
If a 24 year old woman has sex with a 14 year old boy, its called a engaging relationship.
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