A 12-year-old girl was raped by a strange man who forced her
behind a closed Wren Avenue clinic Saturday night, Gilroy police
reported. The attack is the fifth such assault this spring, in an
unprecedented rash of sex crimes by strangers that has police
working overtime and residents unnerved.
Gilroy – A 12-year-old girl was raped by a strange man who forced her behind a closed Wren Avenue clinic Saturday night, Gilroy police reported. The attack is the fifth such assault this spring, in an unprecedented rash of sex crimes by strangers that has police working overtime and residents unnerved.
“It’s alarming,” said Perla Flores, who directs sexual assault programming at the nonprofit group Community Solutions. In the four years she’s worked in Gilroy, Flores said she’d never seen anything like this. “Only 15 percent of rapes are stranger rapes” – and only 1 in 10 are reported, she added – “so when it’s this high-incidence, we’re very concerned.”
A heavyset white man dressed in a gray hooded sweatshirt and blue jeans, his eyes covered by sunglasses, approached the girl as she walked on the 7800 block of Wren Avenue south of First Street about 7:45pm Saturday. The man made small talk with the girl, then coerced her to come behind the nearby Pinnacle Health Care clinic, where he raped her. The clinic was closed, and backs up to the Gavilan Hills Memorial Park cemetery. She escaped when a car horn blared, distracting her attacker, and fled to a friend’s house, where she called police.
The girl didn’t know if the car honked randomly, or if someone saw and deliberately interrupted the crime; no one has come forward to Gilroy police with that information, said Gilroy Police Sgt. Jim Gillio. Describing the rapist to police, the girl said he was unshaven with acne around his mouth and smelled of marijuana.
The preteen’s description differed significantly from descriptions of the men who attacked other Gilroy youth this spring. She said he was about 5 feet tall, maybe taller: The masked man who hit a 16-year-old girl on the head, then raped her near the Uvas Creek levee nearly three weeks ago was described as a heavyset white man about 6 feet tall – roughly the same description given by a 22-year-old woman who reported an attempted rape on the empty Brownell Middle School campus that same week.
Nor does the description match the man who reportedly raped a 15-year-old girl in Christmas Hill Park – a brown-eyed, brown-haired Hispanic man about 5-feet, 7-inches tall and weighing 140 pounds – or the 6-foot tall Hispanic man who reportedly assaulted a 14-year-old boy in his car after offering to drive him to the library. Both those attacks occurred in April.
Though survivors’ descriptions differ, Sgt. Gillio said police haven’t ruled out the possibility that a serial rapist is at work in Gilroy.
“What are the chances of so many like this? It’s very unusual,” said Gillio, the department spokesman. “I don’t recall Gilroy ever having this many sexual assaults in this short a period of time.”
No arrests have been made after any of the attacks, though detectives are still collecting evidence and say they have several leads related to the rape on the levee. Swabs from the levee attack are under analysis at the county crime lab, due back in several weeks; forensic samples were also taken after the most recent assault.
A sketch of the most recent attacker is also in the works, said Gillio. No sketch was completed after the attack on the levee because the man’s face was covered. The survivor of the rape attempt at Brownell has been unable to meet with the sketch artist, detectives said. And though an artist was able to sketch the Christmas Hill Park rapist, the sketch hasn’t netted a suspect.
“Our detectives are working overtime, full time, on this,” said Gillio. “It’s obviously a major concern for the community.”
Responding to the spate of assaults, Gilroy police have increased bicycle and mounted patrols along the levee, parks and other secluded areas, working significant overtime to meet the need, Gillio said. After detectives, City Councilman Dion Bracco and community members noted the thick brush that surrounds the levee behind Gilroy High School where the teen was attacked, city crews cut down on hiding spots by pruning the bushes from the ground up, opening a clear line of sight from the school to the levee, said city spokesman Joe Kline. The work was completed over the weekend.
Schools are also mobilizing, bringing sexual assault educators into the classrooms to arm kids with information about safety and stereotypes. Advocates from Community Solutions delivered 35-minute presentations to students at Brownell Middle School last week, and brought the message to Gilroy High School Monday. More presentations are scheduled at GHS today. Community Solutions also is planning a self-defense training for later in the month, collaborating with Gilroy police. Though only the perpetrators can stop rape, said Flores, Gilroy residents can improve their safety by walking in groups and staying aware of their surroundings.
“People aren’t feeling safe right now,” said Flores. “There’s a huge need for prevention education.”
During the trainings, students spend as much time unlearning stereotyping as learning safety tips. Flores said many students spoke about girls “asking for it” and mentioned how pretty some rape victims were, or how they dressed – a form of victim-blaming that propels the myth that rape is about sex, instead of power and control, she added. Nor are teachers immune to those myths: Some school staff asked educators to help the “naive girls,” said Flores.
“I’ve heard the term ‘naive girl’ from four different people at the schools in just the last few weeks,” she said.
Police have urged residents of all ages and genders to avoid walking alone, regardless of the location or time of day. Though much attention has been focused on the levee, a popular trail in Gilroy, attacks can happen anywhere, at any time, Detective Sgt. Noel Provost has cautioned. Of the five recent assaults, one happened in the morning, two others during daylight hours, and one of the victims was male.
Anyone with information on the incidents may call Detective Michael Beebe at 846-0350 or leave an anonymous tip at 846-0330.
