MIAMI GARDENS, FLA. (WSVN) - The family of a Miami Carol City Senior High student who said she was assaulted three times in the boy’s bathroom on campus, is upset to find that the accused teens will not be prosecuted.
The family of the 14-year-old who claimed three students raped her at Miami Carol City Senior High School left the State Attorney’s Office disappointed after being notified of the decision on Monday.
“I’m disappointed. Very disappointed,” the girl said. “Sad. The fact that they wouldn’t take my case seriously.”
The ninth-grader said she told a teacher what happened after the sexual assault in the bathroom. She also said she wrote a victim statement for school police.
The statement read in part, “He grabbed me tightly by my hand and he got me into the boys’ bathroom. I couldn’t breathe. I choking and crying.”
However, authorities said, the victim changed her story to say it was consensual.
When asked if the female student changed her story, attorney Allison Hertog said, “She changed her story because she was coerced by the school resource officer. The school resource officer told her that if she changed her statements, this would all go away, and in the mind of a 14-year-old, she believed.”
What makes matters worse, the girl’s mother said, she was told one of the teens who raped her daughter was HIV-positive.
School police and the State Attorney’s Office had been investigating since the alleged assaults happened in November.
“Those kids are not getting punished, and they are getting away with what they did,” the girl’s mother said, “and they are going to continue doing it because they know they are not going to get punished.”
In the State Attorney’s memo closing the case, prosecutors wrote, “… it is our opinion that xx’s inconsistent statements about whether the sex acts with the three boys were coerced or not represent a significant conflict in the evidence. Accordingly, it is the belief that we will not be able to meet our burden of proving beyond a reasonable doubt that xx was coerced into engaging in sex.”
Despite the disappointing news, this mom and daughter hope others will still be brave enough to come forward.
“I want to ask any other person or mother out there, that if something like this happens to your daughter, talk. Don’t be afraid,” said the mother.
The school district said, because of this case, they are changing the way they will investigate rape allegations in the future. They also said school resource officers will not be able to conduct those investigations. Instead, they will have to call in a special investigative unit.
The three teens and the 14-year-old girl were suspended.
She has since been transferred to a new school. Her attorney said they plan to sue the school district.
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