R.I. grand jury indicts eight men in gang rape in Providence

The assault was recorded and shared on social media, which led to the arrests of the men.

PROVIDENCE — Eight men have been indicted in the gang rape of an unconscious teenage girl, whose assault was recorded and shared on social media.

Some of the men are directly charged with sexually assaulting the 16-year-old girl at a house party in Providence in December 2019. All are charged with failing to report that she was assaulted.

Although the girl and her family reported the alleged assault hours later, she remembered little about that night, according to court records.

She told Providence detectives that she remembered getting sick from drinking and smoking at the party, according to court records. She remembered a man holding her down on a bed and pouring Hennessy in her mouth — and waking up to a crowd of men taking pictures and laughing at her while she was naked in a bathroom shower.

And then, she told Providence police, she remembered being led into a bedroom. She woke up with vaginal pain, cuts on her thighs, and one of the men telling her to leave. She didn’t know the men beyond first names, or false names.

The case came together after footage of the alleged assault was shared months later on social media. The girl recognized herself in a Facebook video as the naked, unconscious teenager being raped on a bed while other men stood and watched, according to an affidavit supporting an arrest warrant.

The video was “sickening,” police said, but it helped them identify the men in the room. The Providence police arrested the men in late August and early September. A Providence County Grand Jury indicted the eight on Friday.

“The alleged criminal conduct here is particularly heinous and demonstrates utter disregard for the young victim,” Attorney General Peter Neronha said in a statement Monday announcing the indictments. “The indictment of the defendants marks the next step in holding them accountable and delivering justice to the victim and the people of Rhode Island.”

The alleged assailants are all friends, according to the police, and some were well-known to city detectives who investigate violent crime. At least two are affiliated with local gangs, according to court records, and several have violent criminal records. A spokeswoman for Facebook didn’t answer questions about the graphic video being shared on its platform.

The men indicted Friday are:

• Antonio Roberto Leiva, 20, of Providence, indicted on a charge of first-degree sexual assault, assault with intent to commit sexual assault, conspiracy to commit sexual assault, and failure to report a sexual assault.
• Richard Chester, 20, of Seekonk, Mass., indicted on a charge of first-degree sexual assault, conspiracy to commit sexual assault, and failure to report a sexual assault.
• Malcolm Baptista, 19, of Providence, indicted on a charge of first-degree sexual assault, assault with intent to commit sexual assault, conspiracy to commit sexual assault, possession of child pornography, obstruction of the judicial system, and failure to report a sexual assault.
• Carlos Chacon, 20, of Providence, indicted on a charge of first-degree sexual assault, conspiracy to commit sexual assault, possession of child pornography, and failure to report a sexual assault.
• Jose Vargas, 19, of Providence, indicted on a charge of second-degree sexual assault, assault with intent to commit sexual assault, conspiracy to commit sexual assault, and failure to report a sexual assault.
• Carlos Vasquez, 19, of Providence, indicted on a charge of conspiracy to commit sexual assault and failure to report a sexual assault.
• Luis Luna, 20, of Providence, indicted on a charge of failure to report a sexual assault.
• Erving Colon, 25, of Providence, indicted on a charge of failure to report a sexual assault.

They will be arraigned in Providence County Superior Court on Nov. 25. Luis Cabrera, 19, the ninth man charged by police in this case, remains under investigation.