Investigators: 14 Farm Laborers Rape Fla. TeenPOSTED: 10:40 am EDT October 4, 2005
UPDATED: 10:41 am EDT October 4, 2005
IMMOKALEE, Fla. -- Fourteen field laborers broke into an 18-year-old woman's home, dragged her across the street and then took turns raping her, investigators said.
The Collier County Sheriff's Office said the men, ranging in age from 18 to 56, dragged the woman from her home to another across the street early Saturday. She told deputies they choked her and hit her until she lost consciousness.
She said that when she awoke, one of the men was pouring alcohol in her mouth. The men then pulled off her pants and each one raped her, she said.
When they finished, the men pushed her out of the front door, the report said. She said she walked over to her landlord's house and called police. Deputies subsequently rounded up 14 men who were at the house.
Although the woman could not say for sure what role each suspect played in the attack, she was positive all 14 participated in the sexual battery.
"She couldn't pick out exactly who did what, but she could verbalize bits about what happened," sheriff's spokeswoman Kristin Adams said. "Her quick thinking made it possible for us to make the arrests."
Each man was charged with kidnapping, false imprisonment and sexual battery by multiple perpetrators. All were in jail without bond Tuesday and could face up to life in prison if convicted.
Twelve of the men are from Guatemala, one from Puerto Rico and the other from Mexico.
Immokalee is in northeast Collier County between Naples and Fort Myers, and 115 miles northwest of Miami.