NJ mayor: 27 arrested on warrants at apartment complex where 7-year-old girl was gang-raped

NJ mayor: 27 arrested where 7-year-old was raped

TRENTON, N.J. — Police conducted a pre-dawn raid Thursday at a public housing complex where officials say a 7-year-old girl was gang-raped while her teenage stepsister got paid for it, and arrested 27 people on outstanding warrants.

The sweep on Rowan Towers was planned before the girl’s attack, Trenton Mayor Doug Palmer said. Police hope the arrests will lead to tips to help them find those who assaulted the girl; otherwise, the arrests were unrelated to the case, he said.

“This is only the beginning,” Palmer said. “We’re not going to rest until that area is cleaned up so that decent people can live without the threat of fear and violence.”

Police say the child’s 15-year-old stepsister sold her to have sex with as many as seven men and boys at a party Sunday in a vacant apartment near their home. The stepsister was arrested and charged with aggravated sexual assault, promoting prostitution and other crimes.

Many of those arrested Thursday were women, who told The Associated Press the warrants were for minor infractions. Police did not immediately return calls for further details.

Residents said the assault was clearly at the forefront of police officers’ agenda during the raid at the apartment building, a high-rise complex so dangerous that police are hired as security guards at night.

Tair Rivers, 27, said officers yelled, “What happened to the little girl?” as they arrested her and other women. Rivers was arrested for outstanding parking tickets, she said.

Rivers lives in 13-H, an apartment right across from 13-C where the party occurred. She said she was not home over the weekend but would not hesitate to tell police if she knew something.

“We all got kids,” River said. “If we knew something, we would tell.”

Police believe as many as a dozen people were at the party and say everyone in the apartment when the rape occurred could be legally culpable. There were security cameras at the complex and police said they were reviewing all available building surveillance videos.

According to police, the teenager and the 7-year-old were outside in the neighborhood Sunday when the older girl ran into two young men she knew who invited her to the party. The 7-year-old wanted to tag along because she was worried about the older girl’s safety.

At the party, the 15-year-old starting having sex with several men for money and then gave the younger girl some cash to let a group of men touch her as she looked on, police said. It soon escalated to rape and the men threatened to kill the child if she screamed or told anyone, according to police.

The girl later put on her clothes and left the apartment; her older sister stayed. Two women found the child crying outside the apartment and walked her home.

The teenager’s name was not released because of her age, but the county prosecutor plans to ask the court to try her as an adult. It was not clear who was representing the girl in juvenile court.

Interstate Realty Management Company, which manages the 15-story building, said about 150 people live there, and many of the apartments are vacant.

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie on Thursday called the incident “deplorable” in his first public comments on the crime that occurred in the shadow of the New Jersey Statehouse.

Associated Press Writer Angela Delli Santi contributed to this report.