REPORTED GANG RAPES LINKED TO DRUGS: COPS

Young women are being gang-raped in Tri-City but victims haven't been
cooperating with police because they have a drug relationship with
attackers, according to Port Moody police.

PoMo Police Department spokesperson Brian Soles confirmed that a shocking
statement in a study on sexual exploitation of children and youth in
Tri-City wasn't hyperbole.

The statement, as reported in Wednesday's Tri-City News, is: "There is one
particular group of males in the Tri-Cities who are targeting young females
(14-16) as victims of violent crimes - they are luring and grabbing girls,
gang-raping them and then terrorizing them into submission for their sexual
gratification."

The statement is from a study by Children of the Street Society
commissioned by Coquitlam and paid for by the province to determine what
services are needed here for sexually exploited youth.

Asked about it, Soles said there are no roving street gangs of rapists but
men are luring young women through drugs into situations, such as parties
at homes and hotels, where they are sexually assaulted.

"The girls most at risk are regular drug users," Soles said. "Dial-a-doper
dealers offer the services of girls. In many cases, the female victims of
sex assault know the offender on a casual level and often refer to the pimp
as their boyfriend.

"Many don't report sexual assault to authorities out of fear of retaliation
from the pimp or their friends," he said. "There are a lot of individuals
who prey on young girls and recruit them into prostitution and some of
these are gang connected.

"But there are no roving gangs of pimps that are attacking girls at random."

In some cases, young women who want to be considered sophisticated get into
situations they are too inexperienced to handle, Soles said, and choose not
to treat the sex as an assault. "We encourage anyone who is a victim of sex
assaults to report them and we will investigate," he added.

Const. Jane Baptista of Coquitlam RCMP said girls or women who have found
themselves the object of sexual assault should talk to a school counselor
or someone else they trust.

"It's important they can talk to someone so they can get out it," she said.

Young women who have been tricked or manipulated into sex may feel guilty
because they complied, Baptista said, but that doesn't mean they shouldn't
complain.