Girl’s Abduction, Rape Shocks Park’s Visitors

At noon Wednesday, the swings at Jesse Owens Park in South-Central Los Angeles hung motionless. No children swooped down slides or swayed from monkey bars.

The park, normally alive with children on warm summer days, was empty except for a few older men playing dominoes.

The word had spread. Late Tuesday afternoon, a 14-year-old girl walking alone through the park at Western Avenue and Century Boulevard was abducted by three men in a van, raped repeatedly and dumped a mile away two hours later, according to police who offered brief descriptions of the suspects. The girl was treated at a nearby hospital and released to her parents.

Police Det. Tanya Bobo, the lead investigator in the case, said the girl was raped by all three men.

Seeking to quell concerns voiced by some visitors to the park Wednesday, police said they do not believe a serial rapist is responsible.

“This is an isolated incident,” said Police Sgt. Stephany Payne. She said the girl was taken at gunpoint shortly before 5:30 p.m. near the northern boundary of the park along 96th Street and dropped off at 82nd Street and St. Andrews Place.

Police said the girl described the three suspects as Latino men, all 30 to 35 years old and about 5 feet 8. One weighed about 165 pounds and was wearing a black T-shirt with the letters “DARE” on the front; another weighed about 185 pounds, was not wearing a shirt and has a 5-inch scar on his chest; the third weighed about 190 pounds.

The light blue, 1980 to 1985 van where the rape took place had a tinted bubble window in the rear, said Payne.

The news of the rape shocked many neighbors who use the park.

“How could they do this?” said Jason Hubbard, 13, as he stood back and watched a police spokeswoman being interviewed. “How old were these people? I’m 13 and I know better. They wouldn’t like it if they had a sister and somebody did that to her.”

In the early afternoon, Yvette Freeman pushed her 3-year-old daughter back and forth on a swing.

“This park is usually jammed with kids,” she said as she surveyed the nearly deserted play area.

A park official said he was concerned that the incident would damage efforts in recent years to improve the park’s image. Once known as Sportsmen’s Park and a notorious gang hangout, the park is close to finalizing a series of deals with private organizations to fund after-school and summer programs, the official said.

The park official, who did not want his name published, said he was worried that the bad publicity about the rape would hamper fund-raising efforts.

“For years we’ve had no problems and lots of good programs and no media came here,” he said. “Now, one bad incident and they are here like flies.”

Rosetta Harvey, who had never been to the park before, had brought her two grandchildren to play. When she heard of the rape, she gasped, rounded up the children and left.

“That’s really scary,” she said as she headed toward her car. “I remember when my kids were growing up [in the 1960s] I could let them go to the park and the movies alone. Times are different now.”

The chief of staff for Councilman Mark Ridley-Thomas, whose district encompasses the park, said he plans to introduce a motion to offer a $20,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the suspects at Tuesday’s council meeting.

Anyone with information about the crime is asked to call police at (800) 276-3300.