The 13-year-old girl who was raped two weeks ago by two homeless
men told police she returned to them after allegedly being
raped
– and after willingly making out with a 20-year-old woman
elsewhere – because she wanted more drugs.
The 13-year-old girl who was raped two weeks ago by two homeless men told police she returned to them after allegedly being raped – and after willingly making out with a 20-year-old woman elsewhere – because she wanted more drugs. Her account veers wildly from the suspects’ stories but a prosecutor said her story would be corroborated by evidence.
Cresencio Evarado Blas, 29, and Benancio Quinones, 49, face multiple sex and drug charges – including five counts of child rape and furnishing marijuana and a controlled substance to a minor. The men are currently in custody at the Main Jail in San Jose. Their bail was set at $1.2 million at an arraignment Nov. 23, Deputy District Attorney Stuart Scott said.
According to police interviews, the 13-year-old girl ran away from school Nov. 18 after she got into a fight. About 3 p.m., police received a phone call from the children’s home where she lived reporting her missing. Later that night, the investigating officer received another call from the home reporting that the girl had returned and that she had been assaulted by two men and a woman.
The girl told police she met the two men by a baseball field by the red barn in Christmas Hill Park after she ran away from school. The men asked if she wanted to smoke marijuana and she followed them to their encampment – on the ranch side of Christmas Hill between the levee and Uvas Creek – where she smoked marijuana, snorted cocaine and drank part of a can of beer, she told police. Although she did not know the older man’s name, she called the younger one – Blas – “Cruz” because he had that name tattooed on his shoulder and he drew out lines of cocaine using a Mexican identification card bearing that name.
The men then pulled the girl into their tent, tied her hands above her head and removed her clothes, she told police. Although she told them to stop and fought to keep her clothes on, both men raped her, she said. Neither used protection.
Afterward, the men allowed the girl to leave, she told police. As she was walking in a field to the west of the Gilroy High School baseball field, the girl said she met a 20-year-old black woman named Jasmin. Jasmin asked the girl if she was cold and offered to take her home to warm up. The two walked about eight blocks to a two-story brown house and went upstairs to Jasmin’s bedroom, the girl said. The girl told police she would not be able to identify the street or house they went to. At Jasmin’s, the two got into bed and kissed, the girl said. She told police she was a “willing participant.”
About two hours later, the girl went back to Christmas Hill Park “because she wanted to smoke more marijuana,” according to the police report. She found Blas and Quinones near Miller Avenue and Uvas Park Drive and asked to use their cell phone to call someone to come get her, she told police. The men told her she needed to do “something” in return. They convinced the girl to return to their tent where they raped her again, according to the report.
Afterwards, she used Blas’ cell phone to call someone to pick her up near Miller and Uvas.
“I noticed she was very calm and relaxed during our conversation,” wrote the investigating officer in his police report. “I felt as if (the victim) had not been emotionally affected by the events she had just suffered through.”
After interviewing the victim, police took her back to Christmas Hill Park to identify the two homeless men. The men were sleeping inside a makeshift tent made of draped tarps and lined with blankets, officers observed. Police took Blas – who had been arrested in 2005 for sexually assaulting a child – and Quinones – who had been previously charged with multiple drug offenses – into custody without incident. The outcomes of those prior cases was unknown as of the time of the arrests, police said.
During a search of the two suspects, a pair of white panties fell out of Quinones’ pant leg. The victim identified the underwear as hers and the two men as the people who had assaulted her.
At the campsite, which was strewn with “junk,” police collected a glass smoking pipe, a small bag of marijuana, several discarded cans of Natural Ice beer, sleeping bags and blankets, a dirty pair of men’s underwear, other clothing, a bucket containing a rope similar to the one the girl said the men used to tie her up, super glue, garden tools, a wallet, and some fruit.
Police later took the girl to the Valley Medical Center clinic in Gilroy to be tested by the county’s newly opened Sexual Assault Response Team.
According to police interviews, both men denied having sex with the girl. They also said they did not know how old she was but assumed she was about 16 or 18. Blas said the girl approached them looking for drugs. The three went for a walk but Blas left to buy beer at Cheers Liquor Market – on Monterey Road between Ninth and 10th streets – and left the girl with Quinones, Blas told police.
According to the police report, Blas initially told police he returned to the encampment with the beer to find that the girl had already left. He later said he returned to Quinones and the girl “making love.” Blas told police he did not have intercourse with the girl, but used his hands and tongue to caress her body.
Because the interview was conducted in Spanish and the officer did not want to misinterpret Blas’ words, she asked him to write in detail what had happened. In his note, Blas also denied having sex with the girl.
However, Blas contradicted himself, first saying the girl later returned and had sex with Quinones a second time, then saying she never came back.
Quinones, meanwhile, said he fell asleep and remained asleep the whole time after the three returned to the encampment. During the interview, the investigating officer noted his watery eyes, a strong odor of alcohol on him and his unsteady balance. Quinones told the officer he had been homeless for four years and “drinks all day.”
He said he didn’t know why he was being arrested and acted surprised to find out he was being arrested for rape.
“Me? No, not me,” he told the officer. “How can that be, Miss?”
He said someone must have planted the girl’s panties in his pant leg.
Despite the convoluted stories, Scott said he expected “voluminous corroborating evidence” that is “not based on just the victim’s word.” The results of the SART kit will reveal any DNA matches and the injuries to her wrists, which suggest binding, are “very significant,” Scott said.
As for the girl’s decision to go back to Blas and Quinones after having allegedly been raped once, Scott said, “According to experts, there’s no rhyme or reason as to how a victim will react. Especially when you’re dealing with a barely 13-year-old with a very difficult life. If you have 100 different scenarios, you’ll have 100 different reactions.”
Scott said he was not prepared to comment on whether his office would be looking into the events surrounding the victim’s encounter with Jasmin.
“A 13-year-old cannot consent to any of that,” he said. “It’s the adults’ responsibility not to give a 13-year-old cocaine and not to have sex with her.”
The two defendants will appear in court for a plea hearing 1:30 Tuesday in Department 109 at the South County Courthouse in Morgan Hill.
Timeline
Wednesday, Nov. 18
3:09 p.m. – Police receive report of runaway 13-year-old girl
Between 4 and 5 p.m. – Girl arrives at Christmas Hill Park
6 p.m. – Blas leaves Quinones and girl and walks to nearby liquor store, according to Blas; girl says she was raped by both men about this time
Between 6 and 8:54 p.m. – Girl leaves park, goes home with 20-year-old woman and willingly makes out with her, then sets off in search of more drugs to encampment, where she is allegedly raped again
8:54 p.m. – Police receive call that girl has been found
11:54 p.m. – Police take girl to Christmas Hill Park to identify suspects
Source: Gilroy Police Department interviews
