Father says freshman daughter raped by senior at Americas High School
There is currently another active rape investigation under way in the Socorro Independent School District.
In recent weeks, we’ve reported on the alleged rape of a boy with Autism at H.D. Hilley Elementary. This time, a freshman at Americas High School says she was raped by a classmate.
The father who came to ABC-7 does not want to be identified to preserve his daughter’s anonymity. He says a senior forced himself on his freshman daughter. He thinks the school and the district haven’t done enough to punish the 17-year-old student.
“A young man, aged 17 at the time, had called her over and walked her over to a dark hallway where he proceeded to force himself on my daughter.” the father said.
The east El Paso father is still distraught after what he says happened nearly 6 months ago. He’s not only dealing with the emotional battle but a legal one, too.
“The whole gamut of emotions just overwhelmed myself and my family,” the father added. After he spoke with Americas High School Principal Lucia Borrego the day after the alleged rape, the father reported the incident to the El Paso Police Department.
“Our church minister has been helping my daughter and our family throughout this whole experience,” the dad said.
A written statement from the teen girl says she was willingly hanging out with the senior student after school and even consensually kissed him. When the boy put his hands down her pants and continued to push things, the girl said, “no.”
Socorro ISD Assistant Superintendent Pat O’Neill says he often sees teens dealing with sexual peer pressure.
“You gotta teach your children to have a great self image, how to say no, how to not put yourself in a situation where something can happen,” O’Neill said.
El Paso Police Department says it could take a week before the sexual assault report is made available. In the meantime, all girls’ father can do is hope justice will be served.
“There are laws in place that prohibit this type of behavior and punishments that are in place. I think the full extent of the law should be exercised here,” the teenage girls’ father said.
SISD administrators didn’t want to talk specifics about this case because it’s an ongoing investigation. Police have not made an arrest, but the father says the District Attorney’s office has told him the case would be presented to a grand jury in the next few weeks.
