Rape, other charges against 'Doe' held for court
Published: October 1, 2009
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share thisSHENANDOAH - The teenage girl who says a man raped her in August in the borough said Wednesday there was no doubt what he wanted.
"He pushed me into the bedroom. He laid me on the bed," the 13-year-old girl testified during the preliminary hearing for the man, whose identity has not been established.
Magisterial District Judge Anthony J. Kilker ruled at the end of the one-hour hearing that prosecutors had produced enough evidence to justify him ordering all charges held for court, including one count each of rape, statutory sexual assault, indecent exposure and corruption of minors and three each of aggravated indecent assault and indecent assault, against the man, who has been termed John Doe in legal documents.
The man, who has said his name is Ivan Rodriguez - an identification police have said is false - said nothing during the hearing, during which an interpreter translated the testimony into Spanish for him. He also declined to say anything while being led from Kilker's courtroom back to prison, where he is being held on $500,000 straight cash bail pending further court action.
Shenandoah police have charged the man with raping the girl about 7 p.m. Aug. 13 at his 234 W. Coal St. residence.
The girl spoke calmly and clearly as she testified, saying she and the man, whom she knew as Iban, were talking in front of his house when the incident started.
"He kind of took me by the arm, pulled me into the house slowly," she testified. "He shut the door behind him, locked it."
From there, she said, her attempts to resist the man proved futile.
"He took me to the couch. I kept telling him no. He laid down on the couch and got on top of me," the girl testified. "I tried to push him off of me but he kept kissing my neck."
"Did he stop?" Assistant District Attorney Allyn M. Starry asked her.
"No," she answered.
The alleged victim said she tried to get away but hit her head on the ledge of the doorway.
"I felt dizzy. I felt sick to my stomach," she said.
It was then that the man led her upstairs to the bedroom, the girl said.
"He started taking off his pants," then took her pants and underwear off and had sexual relations with her, she said. "I was afraid to say no."
"Did you want him to do these things?" Starry asked her.
"No," the girl answered.
"How were you feeling?"
"Scared."
When cross-examined by Assistant Public Defender Kent D. Watkins, the man's lawyer, the girl said she eventually was able to escape by hitting the defendant.
"He hit his head off the wall and just laid there," she said.
Shenandoah police Officer Jason R. Hayes, the prosecuting officer and the only other witness who testified Wednesday, said he has not been able to confirm the defendant's identity.
After the hearing, Watkins declined to comment on the case.
Starry said police are still working to try to determine the defendant's actual identity, adding that while he gave his name as Ivan Rodriguez, that cannot be confirmed. Otherwise, she also declined to comment on the case.
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