Four male students are accused of raping a mentally disabled girl in a janitor's closet at North Miami Senior High earlier this year. The cases are making it through the legal system, but it turns out there may have been another rape at the school months earlier.
The students accused — Kenoldo Alexis, Derek Bynum, Steven Joseph and David Lombard — are between 15 and 18 years old. Court records say the four slipped into the closet with the girl and gang-raped her.
The Miami Herald's Christina Veiga covered the story. Hear an interview with her below.
There are also allegations of another rape case that may have happened a few months before. A young man at the school told a pastor that he had been raped by three males in a gym locker room. The pastor later told the alleged victim's parents of the incident. That young man suffered a massive mental breakdown and police have been unable to interview him. That means nothing has been done in that case.
Both Bynum and Lombard have pleaded not guilty. The other two accused have yet to enter pleas. School officials say the victim was in a job-training program for disabled students.
Some teachers told the Miami Herald they don't feel safe on campus. Their biggest gripes are about having too few security guards. They also mentioned their concerns about an overall lack of control on campus and students roaming halls during the day. The school district counters by saying the school overstaffed with security guards.
All four accused students were taken to alternative schools while they await trials. A criminal defense attorney was quoted saying they could face up to 30 years in prison.
Rape cases in high schools don't always get the same media attention that similar cases in college do. According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, 30 percent of female rape victims were first raped between the ages of 11 and 17. From that same data set, it was learned that one in five female high schoolers and one in 10 males high schoolers reported experiencing dating violence.
