6 Who Were Jailed in Alleged Rape Still Puzzled

Six Mexican citizens jailed for as long as two months in connection with the alleged rape of a 15-year-old Poway girl in April spoke out publicly for the first time Thursday, denying that they ever molested the girl and expressing continuing perplexity in the racially charged case.

Leonardo Cedillo Martinez, 24, who was charged as the actual rapist, said he still does not understand why the girl made the allegations against him and the others.

“I don’t think what happened to us was just,” said Cedillo, who appeared along with the other former defendants at a news briefing organized by their attorney. “I don’t want vengeance, but what happened wasn’t right.”

Another former suspect, Monica Arce Acevedo, 18, expressed a common sentiment.

‘We Came Here to Work’

“We all came here to work, not to commit crimes,” said Arce, who was one of five people accused of aiding and abetting in the alleged rape. “We wouldn’t do something like this.”

The six, freed June 30 after the San Diego County district attorney’s office dropped charges for reasons that remain murky, plan to file claims today with the county Sheriff’s Department, seeking $1 million each in damages for wrongful arrest and mental distress, said Edmundo Espinoza, their San Diego lawyer. Espinoza said additional legal action may follow, but he declined to elaborate.

The claims, precursors to likely civil lawsuits against the Sheriff’s Department, are the latest legal ramifications of the provocative case, which has highlighted growing tensions between impoverished Mexican migrant workers and suburban homeowners in fast-growing North County.

“I think the Sheriff’s Department acted recklessly,” said Espinoza, who maintains that there was never sufficient proof to jail the six former suspects. “There are certain accepted methods that I think the sheriff or any law enforcement agency should follow, and I believe that the sheriff fell short here.”

Sgt. Bob Takeshta, a sheriff’s spokesman, declined to comment on the prospective claims, but he again defended Sheriff John Duffy’s controversial actions, which included the detention of about 80 Latinos after the alleged rape.

“There was probable cause to believe that these (six) individuals were responsible for the crime that occurred,” Takeshta said.

Applying for Legal Status

All six people charged were undocumented laborers from Mexico who lived in the Poway area, law enforcement authorities said. Several of the six said they are in the process of applying for legal status and expressed concern that the arrests could endanger their chances.

“I’m afraid this could cause problems for me,” said Guadalupe Cedillo Martinez, 17, not a direct relative of Leonardo. He said he has qualified for temporary legal status under the agricultural amnesty program.

“We want our names to be cleared,” added Leonardo Cedillo.

All six still seemed baffled by the charges, which they described as groundless.

“We were very frightened. We never knew what would happen to us,” said Jose Luis Romero, 21, one of those accused of aiding and abetting the rape. “We knew we didn’t do anything wrong.”

At the news conference, the six gave the same stories they had provided sheriff’s investigators: that they were at a soccer game at a field in Poway when the rape allegedly occurred, between 7 and 7:30 p.m. on April 24. All said the victim was frequently seen riding her horse in the area.

Five of the six, who returned from the soccer game in a car, acknowledged seeing the victim riding her horse near Midland Road in Poway shortly before 8 p.m. that day. However, they said they engaged only in a brief conversation with her and never harassed her. Police charged that they blocked her path, pulled her off the horse and encircled her as the rape occurred.

“We never did anything to her,” said Camerino Cedillo Martinez, 17, also not directly related to the other two with the same last names.

A sixth former suspect, Jorge Luis Mendez Herrera, said he never even saw the girl that day. “I don’t know why she accused me,” he said.