en-us Copyright 2008 - All Rights Reserved. Sat, 18 May 2013 22:09:34 GMT 15 By Yen Nguyen
Oakland Police are still searching for at least four men who forced a Fremont student into a white van and attempted to rape her as she walked home from school on Nov. 9. A similar incident happened six weeks earlier when a girl from Fremont claimed that she was raped in a white van, school officials said. There is no proof that the crimes were committed by the same people, said police. Sgt. Michael Poirier described the more recent crime as taking place in a full-size American-made white van with chrome spinning wheels. He said it happened on the 5200 block of Ygnacio. He said the victim was able to identify only one of the suspects, a black male in his 20s with shoulder-length dreadlocks. The Green & Gold is withholding the victims' names to protect their safety and privacy, but the most recent victim told the paper her story. The victim said she was on her way home, which was only a few blocks away. She was taking the same route as she usually does. But it was a weird day, she said, because no one was around as usual at 3:30 p.m. The victim said she noticed the van following her and called her mom to explain what was going on. At the end of the block, her path was cut off by the van and she was pulled in by two men.They held her down and blindfolded her. The victim said that the men turned the music up really loud so yelling wasn’t an option. They started to undress her, but when they noticed that she was on her cycle, they hesitated. After that, the car drove around for about an hour and then the men dropped her off. Before the men left, they threatened her, saying that she better not call the police or they would come back for her. When her vision became clear after removing the blindfold, the victim realized that she was close to home. The victim called her mom and cried to her about everything that had happened.Her mom phoned the police and later a television news station. The mother said she wasn’t scared. The victim is now being picked up and dropped off from school. Sgt. Poitier said that students should travel in groups when walking and check in with their parents when they arrive safely. Teacher Michael Jackson said this has not happened in 20 years that he's been at Fremont High School. “The police need to be clearing the area around school of pimps, prostitutes and perverts,” he said. ]]> Wed, 29 Nov 2006 19:21:00 GMT