Mom Was Son’s Booster During Gang Rape, Authorities Say

A mother who authorities say cheered on her son and his gangster friends as they allegedly took turns raping a 23-year-old woman is among 10 people charged with the crime.

Authorities said the rape was payback by members of an Anaheim Latino gang for something the victim’s boyfriend did.

Experts say that although it’s not unheard of for gang members’ mothers to be involved in their activities, it would be unusual to see a woman raped in retaliation for her boyfriend’s action.

“Generally speaking, rape within a Hispanic gang is reserved for punishment ... but for something she personally has done, not just because they don’t like her boyfriend,” said Wes McBride, president of the California Gang Investigators Assn.

The alleged victim, who was not identified, had gone to a Feb. 23 party with the reputed gang members at a motel near Harbor Boulevard and Katella Avenue in Anaheim, authorities said. Early the next morning, she was lured into a room and beaten by 23-year-old Jolean Disbrow, they said.

During the next seven hours, authorities said, gang members raped, orally copulated and digitally penetrated the victim. Connie Retana, 38, is accused of encouraging her 18-year-old reputed gang member son, Martin Delgado, and his friends as they allegedly sexually assaulted the woman.

The gang members told the victim the rape was “to teach her man a lesson,” prosecutors said. Before letting the woman go, they told her she would be killed if she reported the crime, said Deputy Dist. Atty. Susan Kang Schroeder. Authorities declined to say what the alleged victim’s boyfriend had done or whether he was a gang member.

Women are sometimes charged alongside their male companions in rape cases involving several defendants, said Deputy Dist. Atty. Ben Masangkay, who is handling the case.

Women have also been known to join their children in gang activities, experts say. “I have seen mothers egg on kids to do violence and shoot other gang members. We’ve even see them drive the drive-by cars,” McBride said. “If a mom is in the room and they’re doing gang stuff, she’s just another gangbanger. She’s just a little older.”

McBride, who is retired after 36 years as a gang investigator with the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, said raping another gang member’s girlfriend was extremely rare among Latinos because of the culture’s traditional respect toward women.

Four suspects were arrested in Garden Grove driving the alleged victim’s car the day after the crime was committed, authorities said.

Besides Retana, Delgado and Disbrow, those arrested were Jesse Bess, 23; Randy Calderon, 18; Keizzy Fierro, 22; Adrian Flores, 18; Raymond Jaramillo, 19; Luis Nava, 19; and Gilbert Ortiz, 15. One suspect, identified as 19-year-old Oscar Jose “Sporty” Barajas, remained at large.

Each defendant was charged with rape in concert, false imprisonment by violence, forcible oral copulation and sexual penetration by a foreign object by force.

All but Fierro were charged with dissuading a witness from reporting a crime. Fierro and two others were charged with receiving stolen property: the victim’s car. Delgado was charged with stealing the car. They were each being held in lieu of $100,000 bail and will be arraigned Friday.