Rostra Admin Note, September 27, 9:27 p.m. – As indicated by the comments posted below, the following entry is inaccurate on two counts. Authorities could have only confirmed an investigation of the girl’s allegations, not that a crime was committed. Also, authorities could not have known whether the descriptions of the at-the-time alleged assailants were accurate, only that they had what the girl told them was “accurate.” Although this blog is made up of an independent group of authors, with no pre-approval of entries and very little editorial oversight, we believe in this case a corrective note is hereby warranted.
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Authorities confirmed that a 15-year-old girl, who was on her way home from school Friday, was kidnapped, forced into a vehicle, driven around for an hour and raped repeatedly. Sheriff Department officials said the victim was able to give deputies an accurate description of the three Latino men who kidnapped and raped the young girl.
Three assailants are currently the focus of the county-wide search. The Sheriff Department says multiple agencies are working together and are expected to sort through the numerous leads from witnesses all weekend.
The alleged incident happened near San Dieguito High School at approximately 4:10 p.m. on Friday.
The victim told authorities that one man grabbed her from behind and forced her into the back seat of an older white mid-sized vehicle where two more suspects were waiting. Then the perpetrators sped away from the scene, according to Sheriff’s spokeswoman Captain Sherri Sarro.
The victim also told authorities that the men drove through area residential streets for an hour while they repeatedly sexually assaulted her. Once the suspects were finished they drove the 15-year-old back to the high school where she was abducted and pushed her out of the car.
However, Capt. Sarro said they didn’t know what grade or high school the victim attended.
Investigators are taking the abduction and sexual assault seriously says Justin White, sergeant of the Sexual Assault Division at the Encinitas Sheriff substation. He reported that 10 detectives are working this case around the clock and have been searching the community hoping to locate leads from nearby residents who may have information leading to the arrest of the three Latino men.
Comments 5
From: @nctimes
Sent: Sep 27, 2010 4:09p
Authorities say girl fabricated Encinitas abduction and rape…
http://bit.ly/b6XdFr
“Authorities confirmed that a 15-year-old girl, who was on her way home from school Friday, was kidnapped, forced into a vehicle, driven around for an hour and raped repeatedly. Sheriff Department officials said the victim was able to give deputies an accurate description of the three Latino men who kidnapped and raped the young girl.”
OK, considering the news, I have to ask about the reporting of this story.
Did the authorities “confirm” she had been raped or did they confirm that she *said* she’d been raped.
How exactly could the deputies know the descriptions were “accurate” until they actually found three men?
In any event, the post is now very wrong and should be corrected (and not only in the comments)
http://www.nbcsandiego.com/news/local-beat/Teen-Girl-Changes-Her-Story-103892019.html
Totally correct, Dave. When alleged facts, especially those central to the story, are shown to be false, the reporter has a duty to correct them within the story.
We agree that the post was and is incorrect, with or without the revelations of today. The post should have indicated, for example, that authorities “confirmed an investigation” of the girl’s allegations, not that they confirmed a crime. We would ask Ms. Dvorak to consider correcting the post. If not, an editor’s comment will be added.
See follow ups…
Dvorak:
http://sdrostra.com/?p=8484
Bradley Fikes:
http://sdrostra.com/?p=8486