BAL HARBOUR, FLA. (WSVN) - Four males, three of them high school students, are facing sexual battery charges after, police said, they violated a young, incapacitated woman at a Bal Harbour hotel.
According to Miami-Dade Police, the suspects took the 21-year-old victim to the Bal Harbour Quarzo, located at 290 Bal Bay Drive, on May 1. The police report states, while the woman was lying in bed, one of the subjects, identified as 19-year-old Adrian Machin, stuck a marijuana cigarette into her private areas and lit it. At one point, they said, one of the suspects also sodomized the victim with the handle of an umbrella.
Police said the incident was recorded on cellphone video.
In addition to Machin, detectives identified the suspects as 19-year-old Julio Fernandez, 19-year-old Luis Rosello and 17-year-old Adan Valdes. Three of them are students at G. Holmes Braddock Senior High School in Southwest Miami-Dade, where Machin is a senior.
Wednesday morning, Machin appeared in bond court. He was denied bond.
Wednesday afternoon, fellow students reacted to the disturbing allegations. “I find it stupid for the guys,” said student Brian Lozano, “but, I mean, not everyone’s like that.”
“I didn’t expect that, especially in high school,” said student Sonny Cortez. “I don’t know. It shocked me.”
“It makes me feel sick that people are doing that to, like a person who just can’t defend herself,” said another student.
A 7News crew knocked on the front door of Valdes’ home, but the man who answered, who identified himself as the teen’s father, replied, “OK, I have no comment,” in Spanish.
7News cameras captured Fernandez and Rosello being taken to jail. At one point, one of the suspects is seen engaging into an altercation with an older inmate. Seconds later, the older inmate, seen wearing a white T-shirt, is seen kicking the suspect.
Miami-Dade Public Schools spokesperson Daisy Gonzalez-Diego released a statement that reads, “Miami-Dade County Public Schools takes allegations of this nature seriously, even when they take place off school grounds and beyond the normal school day. The students involved in this case will be disciplined according to School Board policy. We are committed to ensuring that school and district activities will not be negatively impacted as a result of this incident.”
The story quickly spread through social media. It remains uncertain whether or not the suspects will be allowed to walk at their graduation.
All suspects currently remain in custody.
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