Woman says she was raped along Ohio street by teen, cars drove by without stopping to help

Ohio woman alleges daylight rape along city street

TOLEDO, Ohio — A woman who said she was raped along a street in daylight as motorists drove past is upset that no one came to her rescue.

The 26-year-old woman told The Blade newspaper in an interview published Thursday that she yelled for help and noticed at least two cars drive by. Police arrested a teenage boy who lives nearby in the alleged attack and said he confessed.

“I’m ticked off because people were doing nothing. Just driving by. What kind of humans are we becoming?” she said.

The woman said she was attacked Tuesday afternoon as she was walking from a friend’s house to a library in a neighborhood of densely packed detached homes. The assailant had a pair of scissors and said he would cut her if she made a sound, the woman said.

She said after the assailant fled, she asked a pedestrian talking on his cell phone if she could use the phone to call for help. He kept walking, she said.

Police said several drivers saw the attack and some called 911, but the witnesses were unsure if the public act was consensual and might not have been aware that they were witnessing a rape. One driver slowed down and beeped the car horn; another turned around to return to the scene and saw a person running away, police said.

Detectives got a description of the suspect from witnesses, interviewed neighbors and school officials and later arrested Anferney Fontenet, a 15-year-old boy, at his house, where he lives with his mother and sister, Sgt. Sam Harris said Thursday.

Fontenet was arraigned in juvenile court on charges of rape and robbery. It wasn’t immediately clear if he had an attorney. Prosecutors said Thursday they would seek to have Fontenet tried as an adult.

Harris said the teen confessed but offered no motive.

“He told us that he saw the woman walking alone on the street and in his mind he determined that he was going to have sex with her,” Harris said.

Fontenet told police he was aware of car horns beeping but didn’t stop his attack, Harris said. He also took the woman’s cell phone when it rang during the attack, police said.

The boy, who was being held in a juvenile detention center, doesn’t have a criminal record.

The woman’s mother told The Blade that her daughter lives in a group home and has bipolar disorder and Asperger’s syndrome.

The newspaper didn’t identify the woman, citing its policy of not naming alleged rape victims. The Associated Press also doesn’t name those who say they have been sexually assaulted.

A juvenile convicted of rape could face one to three years in detention or be held to age 21, Assistant Prosecuting Attorney Lori Olender said. A juvenile convicted of robbery could face one year of detention or be held to age 21, she said.

An adult would face three to 10 years in prison on a rape conviction and two to eight years in prison on a robbery conviction, she said.