2 Held in Rape of 2 Girls at Newport Beach Motel

Two men have been arrested in connection with the rape and sexual battery of two Los Angeles County high school girls celebrating prom night in Newport Beach, authorities said Monday.

Andreas Craig Grum, 22, of Newport Beach and Matthew Todd Shields, 19, of Canyon Country in northern Los Angeles County were arrested on suspicion of rape early Sunday at the Baycliff Motel in the 400 block of Newport Boulevard, police spokesman Tom Little said Monday.

Shields, an unemployed roofer, was also booked on suspicion of sexual battery. Both men were being held in lieu of $50,000 bail in the Newport Beach City Jail pending arraignment in Harbor Municipal Court.

Little said a 16-year-old Wilson High School student from Hacienda Heights was in search of ice when she was invited into a motel room by Grum and Shields and raped by both men at about 3:30 a.m. Sunday. Little said the girl, whose name was withheld, had been partying with schoolmates in a rented room at the motel after her prom.

When the first girl failed to return, a 16-year-old classmate went to look for her. The second girl, whose name also was withheld, knocked on the door and allegedly was yanked inside the room and sexually accosted by Shields, Little said.

The second girl managed to push the man away at the same time that the first teen-ager escaped from the motel bathroom. The two girls fled and reported the incident to police. Grum, a waiter, and Shields were arrested in the motel room at 4:30 a.m., Little said.