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7th Suspect in Gang Rape of 11-Year-Old Moreno Valley Girl May Have Fled to L.A.
Authorities are looking for 19-year-old Michael Sykes, the seventh suspect in a Moreno Valley gang rape attack on an 11-year-old, according to the Press-Enterprise. Investigators believe at least seven people raped the girl in the restroom of Victoriano Park on March 10th. Six suspects have already been arrested in conjunction with the case.
This case, which was kept out of the press until now because detectives did not want to jeopardize the investigation, is "he second time in a month in which a girl has been raped at an Inland-area park," says the PE. A previous incident involving middle-school aged boys attacking a female classmate at Roosevelt Williams Park in Banning took place in February.
Although the park and its vicinity are not considered gang areas, investigators believe the Victoriano Park rape is gang-related. The six juveniles already caught are "associated with a street gang in Moreno Valley," according to local authorities, who note they believe this rape is "an isolated incident."
No other details about the rape or the suspect have been released, however Sykes is considered a gang member, and is thought to have left the Moreno Valley area and is in Los Angeles.
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