15 Ex-Officers Get 40 Years in Rape Case

Fifteen former Mexico City police officers have been sentenced to 40 years in prison for kidnapping and raping three teenage girls in a case that outraged Mexicans and contributed to the downfall of the capital’s police chief. After an investigation clouded by retracted statements by the girls, Judge Leonardo Perez Martinez ruled that there was sufficient evidence to find the men guilty and order them to prison. In July 1998, officers from a police cavalry unit were accused of kidnapping the girls--ages 13, 15 and 18--when the teens stopped them to ask directions to a park. The girls said they were taken to a police stable in the borough of Tlahuac, where during four days of captivity they were raped repeatedly and forced to cook and clean. The girls escaped and reported the assault. The public outrage helped force the resignation of Police Chief Rodolfo Debernardi.