Five arrested in Trenton gang rape

Police have arrested two adults and three juveniles in connection with the rape of a 7-year-old girl in a Trenton housing complex eight days ago. More arrests are expected, officials said Sunday.

The five were each charged with aggravated sexual assault and endangering the welfare of a child, police said Saturday night. They remain in custody.

One of those arrested, Gregory Joseph Leary, 20, of Trenton, had been charged Thursday with having sex with a minor - the 15-year-old stepsister of the 7-year-old. Leary was being held at the Mercer County Correctional Center on $500,000 cash bail.

Tiemear Lewis, 19, of Trenton, was also arrested, along with a 17-year-old, a 14-year-old, and a 13-year-old. Lewis' bail is $300,000 cash, police said Sunday.

The names of the juveniles have not been released. Prosecutors likely will seek to try all of them as adults, Mercer County Prosecutor Joseph Bocchini said.

The sexual assaults on the 15-year-old girl and her stepsister allegedly occurred in an apartment on the 13th floor of the Rowan Towers apartment building on West State Street near downtown Trenton.

Trenton Police Lt. Stephen Varn said Sunday that more arrests were expected. "We have information that more people were present and may have been taking part" in the sexual assaults, he said.

Video surveillance tapes at the complex assisted in identifying those responsible, Varn said, but "basically, it came down to a lot of ground-pounding and interviews."

According to police, the teenager and the 7-year-old were outside in the neighborhood March 28 when the older girl ran into two young men she knew who invited her to the party. The 15-year-old allegedly offered herself and her stepsister for sex to the males, in return for money. Afterward, the 7-year-old put on her clothes and left. Her sister stayed with the men.

Two women found the child crying outside the apartment and walked her home. The girls' family had reported them missing; when the 7-year-old arrived home, police were already there. When the child told them what happened, she was taken to a hospital for treatment.

When police found the 15-year-old later that night, she also described what happened and was arrested. The 15-year-old's name has not been released; she remains in the Mercer County Youth Detention Center. She has been charged with complicity in an aggravated sexual assault, criminal restraint, terroristic threats, and endangering the welfare of a child, for her alleged role in allowing her stepsister to be sexually assaulted.

Trenton Mayor Doug Palmer thanked police for making the arrests but said: "We're not finished, because everyone who is responsible is still not arrested. The police will not rest until we get every individual who was involved in this."