Photos lead to charges in alleged gang rape
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SALT LAKE CITY, Utah (AP) -- Prosecutors have charged three suspected gang members with sexual assault and other counts after pictures taken of an alleged gang rape surfaced at a one-hour photo shop.
An employee at the photo shop discovered pictures of several men engaged in sex acts with an apparently unconscious 13-year-old girl. Authorities said the attackers were posing for the camera and flashing gang signs.
Investigators said they traced a license plate shown in the photos to a West Valley City residence. The owner of that house directed them to another house he owned that was vacant because of remodeling.
Investigators recognized that house as the one depicted in the photos. At the scene, they found earrings, later determined to belong to the alleged victim, and vomit.
They found two of the suspects at a different house. They also found gang paraphernalia and a Kodak Advantix camera -- the same kind used to take the sexually explicit photos.
The suspects, all of whom were taken into custody in advance of a court hearing Wednesday, face both county and federal charges.
In 3rd District Court, Andres Sanpedro, 21, and Virgilio Jeronimo Bautistia, 25, are charged with rape of a child. Javier Lugo Martinez, 22, and Sanpedro are charged with sexual abuse of a child.
In federal court, Sanpedro, Jeronimo and Lugo face child pornography charges. Sanpedro is also charged with illegal possession of a firearm -- a sawed-off 20-gauge shotgun.
Sanpedro allegedly told investigators he routinely had sex with women in the abandoned house.
Authorities said Lugo told them that the girl "was out of it" while she was being assaulted and that one of the other men probably drugged her.
The girl told police she had no memory of the assault, but confirmed that she was the one in the photographs.
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