Three young boys accused of sexually assaulting a 14 year-old girl at the Medford YMCA. Police are calling it an unusual, but serious, attack at what’s supposed to be a safe haven for families. NBC5’s Laura Cavanaugh reports.
==
“It’s very unusual. It’s a crazy case to happen involving the ages of the kids, the ages of the offenders,” said Lt. Mike Budreau of the Medford Police Department.
Medford Police reporting a 14 year-old girl was sexually assaulted by three minor boys at this Rogue Valley Family YMCA Monday afternoon in broad daylight. They say the incident happened around 4:30pm near this handicapped entrance.
“This is a busy hallway,” said YMCA Executive Director, Brad Russell. “If somebody saw something happen, we would want them to report that to the authorities.”
The victim told detectives a 14 year-old boy, who was an acquaintance, allegedly pushed her into this area near the pool access area, with two 10 year-old boys holding her down on the ground.
“There was allegations of force, allegations of a knife,” said Budreau. “Her mouth was covered to the point where she couldn’t call for help.”
They allegedly restrained the young girl while they touched her inappropriately for 40 minutes.
“We’re actually taking this very seriously,” said Budreau. “This is actually a very brutal attack. We’ve seen kids experiment. We’ve seen kids horse around. This is not that.”
The victim sustained minor injuries during the assault. Her mother reportedly broke up the attack and alerted management.
“When we learned of the incident, our staff got the four minors involved and we were the ones who contacted police,” said Russell.
YMCA member Jennifer Griffin heard about the incident from NBC5 on Thursday.
” I would be concerned if I had older children,” said Griffin. “My children are never without a parent or adult supervision, but it’s still kind of concerning.”
Executive Director, Brad Russell, takes pride in the dozens of family-oriented after-school, sports and fitness programs the YMCA
provides the community.
“I feel especially disappointed that something happened right here in this hallway,” Russell said.
Russell does note, however, that the young suspects were YMCAC youth members, not part of any supervised program. And until further notice or the investigation is complete
“Those three boys are certainly not welcome at the YMCA,” he said.
As for the alleged assailants, the 14 year-old male suspect is at the Jackson County Justice Juvenile Detention Center, held on counts of sexual abuse, strangulation and assault. The ten-year-old boys were cited and released to their parents.
© 2024 KOBI-TV NBC5. All rights reserved unless otherwise stated.