FEDERALSBURG --Five teenage boys have been charged with raping a 12-year-old girl in the dugout of a baseball field in this small Eastern Shore town.
According to charging documents, the girl told police she went to the park Feb. 9 planning to have sex with her 15-year-old boyfriend but changed her mind. She was then attacked by other youths, who had been watching the couple, the documents say. The girl told her parents about a week later.
The girl and the five suspects all live in or around Federalsburg, a town of 2,600 along the Marshyhope Creek that was once a trading center and still is a hub for rural northern Caroline County.
The Sun does not name alleged victims of sexual assault.
The boys have been charged as adults, and each faces 11 separate counts, including first- and second-degree rape, sodomy and perverted practice.
County State's Attorney Jonathan G. Newell said some of the youths, students at nearby Colonel Richardson High, were heard bragging about the incident last week.
"All of them basically turned themselves in," Newell said. "The girl, which is not at all unusual, was afraid to report it at first. The girl was hanging out with another boy, who was not involved."
Mayor Betty J. Ballas said the incident is out of character in her town, which rarely experiences serous crime. "I'm just floored by it," Ballas said. "Horrible is the only word to describe it."
Arrested in the case were Dazwan D. Bolden, 16; Shaquille J. Dukes, 15; Marquise D. Lovick, 15; Trayver Lake, 14; and Brandon A. Nelson, 14.
Newell said none of the boys had lawyers as of yesterday. Lovick and Nelson were released on personal recognizance. They could not be reached for comment. Dukes, Bolden and Lake were being held without bond at the Caroline County Detention Center in Denton. All five have court hearings scheduled for next week.
According to court records, the girl was examined Feb. 16 at an Easton hospital after telling her parents she had been assaulted. A nurse and a physician trained in sexual assault cases told police they found evidence of forcible intercourse.
The girl told police that she and her boyfriend had planned to have sex, but he stopped when she protested, the records say. He has not been charged.
The Chambers Park Junior League Baseball complex, where the incident occurred, includes three fields with dugouts. The dugouts are covered by roofs and enclosed by wire mesh, designed for air flow and to protect players sitting on the benches from batted balls. The mesh makes the inside of the dugouts clearly visible.
Charging documents say a group of boys had been watching the encounter between the girl and her boyfriend and began making lewd remarks. The girl said she and her boyfriend were afraid of the youths, and when her boyfriend walked out of the dugout, her exit was blocked by two of them. Her boyfriend told police he wanted to help the girl but was afraid of the others.
chris.guy@baltsun.com