A scholar at Menlo Faculty has been charged with the alleged rape of a 12-year-old lady inside his campus dorm room.
San Mateo County prosecutors accused Andres Manuel Aguilar, 19, of luring the underage lady to his dormitory room after the 2 met at a Menlo Park transit cease.
Aguilar allegedly gave the sufferer his cellphone quantity throughout their preliminary encounter and subsequently persuaded her to satisfy him on Could 5, in accordance with authorities. Investigators famous that whereas the sufferer allegedly instructed the suspect she was 17, Aguilar admitted to regulation enforcement that he knew that she was nonetheless underage.
Prosecutors mentioned that the sufferer snuck out of her home after darkish to satisfy Aguilar.
The pair reportedly went to a Redwood Metropolis Safeway to purchase rum and beer earlier than heading to the campus in Atherton. Dorm surveillance footage captured the pair getting into Aguilar’s residence corridor room, KRON4 reported.
Contained in the room, the suspect allegedly supplied the lady with alcohol and vaped hashish, prosecutors mentioned.
The sufferer’s mom, talking anonymously to guard her youngster’s identification, detailed the agonizing evening.
“She waited till all people was asleep and snuck out of the home,” the mom instructed KRON4. “They ended up going to the faculty, the place she as raped.”
The suspect is accused of stripping off the sufferer’s pants whereas she repeatedly protested, authorities mentioned. Out of a sudden worry of a possible being pregnant, Aguilar allegedly used DoorDash to order emergency Plan B contraception to the room, in accordance with court docket paperwork.
Aguilar, of San Jose, is at the moment being held with out bail on a number of felonies, together with aggravated sexual assault of a kid, aggravated sexual assault of a minor involving oral copulation, and offering marijuana to a minor beneath 14.
San Mateo County District Lawyer Steve Wagstaffe emphasised that the sufferer’s age modifications the authorized severity of the prosecution.
“If a toddler is 13 and beneath, society treats that rather more critically,” Wagstaffe mentioned in a press release. “The penalties are a lot larger. There may be by no means any argument {that a} youngster might have consented in any trend to it, and it actually turns into critical while you cope with a 12-year-old youngster.”
Aguilar faces a most penalty of life in jail if convicted.
Although initially set for a mid-summer court docket look, Aguilar’s listening to was pushed again to August 27. The delay permits police and prosecutors further time to pursue leads concerning a possible second sufferer.
Authorities are urging anybody with info to contact the Atherton Police Division.
“If you already know this man, when you’ve had any damaging interactions of him, or in case you are a sufferer of rape by him,” the mom mentioned, “come ahead.”
The incident has shocked the group at Menlo Faculty, an unique, personal enterprise establishment recognized for its tight-knit undergraduate scholar physique of roughly 810 to 880 college students.
The campus is extremely regarded globally, with the Heart for World College Rankings (CWUR) putting it within the prime 8.3% of universities worldwide and rating it No. 62 globally for graduate employability. It additionally boasts an AACSB enterprise accreditation held by fewer than 5% of colleges worldwide.
College directors have declined to launch particular particulars in regards to the suspect’s enrollment standing, citing privateness protocols.
“We take all allegations of felony conduct and misconduct involving our group with the utmost seriousness,” a Menlo Faculty spokesperson mentioned in a press release supplied to KRON4. “In accordance with federal and state privateness legal guidelines, we’re unable to verify identities or present particulars concerning ongoing investigations.”
The case follows a current investigation at UC Santa Barbara of an alleged rape that triggered huge pushback from scholar advocacy teams.
Equally, UCLA lately handled safety alarms after a person with no college affiliation was arrested for a collection of separate bodily assaults in opposition to a number of girls, together with college students, throughout college grounds.
