Three men arrested in videotaped rape of unconscious woman in Orange County

[Liberal_in_LA]

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-rape3-2009jan03,0,1496813.story

Three men arrested in videotaped rape of unconscious woman in Orange County

By Susannah Rosenblatt
January 3, 2009

Two Santa Ana College football players and a male friend were charged with raping and sexually assaulting a drunk or unconscious woman last summer and videotaping the crime, Orange County prosecutors said Friday.

John Paul Foster II, 22, of Seaside in Monterey County, and Michael Alexander Clemmons, 19, of Tustin were arrested and arraigned this week in the July 2008 assault. The third suspect, Luster Ditto Lewis, 20, of Irvine, turned himself in Friday and was arraigned.

The three men, friends from Tustin High School, are each charged with multiple felonies. If convicted, they each face a maximum of 18 years in prison.

Clemmons is a running back for the Santa Ana College team, and Lewis is a wide receiver, according to the school's website.

Authorities say the men were drinking at the Key Inn hotel in the 1600 block of El Camino Real in Tustin. The 18-year-old victim, who knew the defendants through her boyfriend, came to the hotel after Lewis called her, police said.

She later passed out. Foster allegedly videotaped Clemmons and Lewis undressing the woman, positioning her body on the floor and assaulting her multiple times. Prosecutors accuse Foster of handing off the camera to sexually assault the woman and urinate on her.


http://www.ocregister.com/articles/prosecutors-woman-rape-2272770-haidl-friends

Throughout the sexual assault, authorities said, the men slap the woman, who appears to be either unconscious or prevented from resisting because she was under the influence of an intoxicating substance.

At one point, prosecutors stated, the men are seen in the video slapping the woman in the face, telling her to wake up and holding her nose closed to suffocate her in order to wake her up, prosecutors reported.

[Veritas_et_Aequitas]

1. At least the sick bastards created and preserved the evidence against them.

Still, I wouldn't be shocked if they somehow beat the charges.

[chucktaylor]

2. I am glad she was unconscious. I hope these three remember every loving experience

they have in prison.

[emilyg]

5. My hope is that these bastards have many

loving experiences in prison.

[ZombieHorde]

11. Do you enjoy the idea of using rape to punish others?

Is it OK to torture others, if we hate them?

I wonder if you will answer my questions...

[emilyg]

32. In this case - yes.

Some crimes bother me much more than others.

[ZombieHorde]

35. Although I strongly disagree with using rape as a punishment, I understand your feelings.

One of the reasons that I strongly disagree with using rape as punishment, is the fact that someone has to be the rapist in order to carry out that punishment.

[yardwork]

60. I'm not surprised. DU has become incredibly right-wing.

In every thread there is some kind of freeperish response.

[StreetKnowledge]

79. Nah.

It's just people like this make us all sick. Hence, we figure they deserve a taste of their own medicine.

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

66. I don't have such a "hope."

Does that make me evil? Or at least morally inferior to your Supreme Righteousness?

[The_Casual_Observer]

3. My neighborhood. Yikes.

[Ghost in the Machine]

4. Sounds like they could use a round with a red hot poker and a dull, rusty butterknife..

They wouldn't be raping anyone else again... for good measure, let's videotape the hot poker & rusty knife treatment and put it on youtube.. maybe it'll help deter someone else from committing rape.

[varkam]

6. Let's skin them alive and drink their blood first!

Oh! And then we can force their parents to wear their flesh around as kind of a shaming punishment for raising such bad children - you know, sort of like a meat coat. And then we can chop off their heads and put them on long poles outside of the courthouse - you know, to deter people.

[Ghost in the Machine]

8. it's amazing how some people defend rapists here...

:eyes:

[High Plains]

10. I don't think anybody is defending rapists.

Just responding to some of the more barbaric posts.

[ZombieHorde]

12. Not defending rapists, condoning torture.

Do you like the idea of rapists getting tortured? Do you visualize yourself hurting them? Using hot objects to break their spirit? When you fantasize about it, do they plead for mercy, or just scream in agony?

[Ghost in the Machine]

13. Have you ever been brutally raped? How about someone close to you?

It's a lifetime of mental torture for some victims. Some even kill themselves because of it...

Speaking as a man, I feel that any male that forces himself on a woman, or another man, deserves to have his dick cut off...

Speaking as someone who lived on the other side of the law for far too long, you give up your rights to *anything* when you decide to break the law. Most criminals *know* this... and accept their fate. If you're breaking into houses, you *know* there's a chance you might get shot by a homeowner. If you're robbing people, you *know* there's a chance one of them could pull a gun on you and shoot your ass. If you're selling dope, you *know* there's a chance that someone might rob and/or kill you. If you only get robbed, you *know* you can't call the cops and report it....

Do YOU like the idea of a rape victim being mentally tortured to the point that she kills herself, while the rapist gets a year in prison, then gets to resume his life as usual?

Go coddle a rapist and make yourself feel better...

[ZombieHorde]

16. "Have you ever been brutally raped?"

I was molested when I was seven years old. My molester burned me afterwards to remove the smell. Does that count? Do you really care?

How about someone close to you?

Last October.

Do YOU like the idea of a rape victim being mentally tortured to the point that she kills herself, while the rapist gets a year in prison, then gets to resume his life as usual?

I would not like it, and I would not torture them.

Go coddle a rapist and make yourself feel better...

Feel better about what? Your desire to torture others?

[Ghost in the Machine]

24. ............

"I was molested when I was seven years old. My molester burned me afterwards to remove the smell. Does that count? Do you really care?"

Yes, that counts and yes, I really care. I'm sorry to hear that and I hope it hasn't haunted you your entire life. My 10 y/o neice was molested a couple years ago... they found the guy who did it dead in the woods with 19 self-inflicted stab wounds...

"Last October"

I hope the person is recovering well, both mentally and physically.


"I would not like it, and I would not torture them."

I guess that's what makes us all *individuals* - different thought processes and everything...

"Feel better about what? Your desire to torture others?"

Maybe your time would be spent more constructively NOT worrying about me. If you want to coddle criminals, go right ahead... just don't be surprised when people like me call you on it...

:hi:

[ZombieHorde]

25. "I hope the person is recovering well," - She is.

When I first heard about it, I wanted to hurt the man who raped her. I wanted to make him cry and beg her for forgiveness. I wanted to personally torture him. I felt this way for a couple of hours. But that is not who I really am. Hurting that man would not bring about the desired healing.

If my children or wife were raped, I don't know what I would do. I hope that I would think of them more than the rapist.

spent more constructively NOT worrying about me

Well, I am your mother, and that is what we do.

An emotional issue, sorry about being so dramatic.

[hyphenate]

82. I think most of us

Think about the many things we would do to those who have inflicted pain on any of us. It's part of the whole process of being human beings.

OTOH, I think most of us simply wish for there to be a balancing of the scales, and in the end, part of the healing process is admitting how helpless we feel/felt when someone has violated our rights in some way.

We want justice, and in our anger and our suffering, we imagine oh-so many ways we would get that justice if it were up to us. But in the end, we opt for the right thing to be done, because we ultimately realize that we aren't, and can never be, as violent or evil as the perpetrator has been.

It's part of being allegedly "civilized" and supposedly better than other living beings. We're supposed to be able to "forgive" and "forget" the violations against us.

Does this matter to those who have been brutalized? Not in that moment they don't, nor for a long time afterward. There is a difference in "self defense" and murder, too: if a person is attacked, and they harm or kill their attacker "in the moment," it is self-defense. If they kill him even five minutes later, it is murder. Strange as this might be, it is how we humans define ourselves and our society that makes the difference between jail time and keeping ourselves to a higher standard.

[varkam]

37. There's a difference between "coddling" and "obeying the Constitution"

You should read the Constitution sometime. It's a fascinating read. Pay close attention to the 8th Amendment, as it sounds like you need a refresher.

So people that don't want to torture criminals must want to coddle them instead? You're either with us, or you're with the terrorists - right, Georgie boy? Since you apparently want to shred the 8th, what other parts of the constitution should we also do away with?

[Name removed]

48. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[varkam]

63. Owie, my poor wittle feelings.

I've got your "Georgie boy" hanging right here for ya, pal...

Not impressed.

Do you think it's cruel and unusual punishment to shoot someone in the head if they're trying to rob/harm/kill you? I don't... Do you think it's cruel and unusual punishment to chop a rapist's dick off? I don't...

Sounds like, in addition to the 8th Amendment, you could also use a dictionary. Look up "punishment" when you get a chance. And yes, we could argue all day about what constitutes cruel and unusual punishment. However, the same is not true of the court system in this country. Torture is generally regarded as a violation of that amendment. I know that you disagree, so let me ask you this: whom else should we torture? We've got rapists and child molesters. How about murderers? They're pretty bad folks. Terrorists and enemy combatants? How about people who abuse animals? You know, people who drive slow in the fast lane piss me off, why don't we torture them too. While we're at it, we should probably torture those namby-pamby activist judges that think torture violates the 8th.

Behind the snark, there's a serious question there: where would you have the line drawn? If torture is okay for rapists, then who else is it okay for?

You need to wake up and understand that there are many of us out here who REFUSE to live as victims, and who REFUSE to live in fear. I grew up in a lifestyle where we policed our own, and those who wronged us. We handled our own business without the need of outside help...

Sounds like you need to get hit with a clue-by-four. Just because I'm not getting behind blood-curdling torture doesn't mean that I live as a victim or live in fear. You're just full of false dichotomies, aren't you?

I hate to bust your bubble there buddyro, but the world isn't made up of just the Leave it to Beaver, Brady Bunch & Happy Days families...

Oh, really? I had no idea... :rofl:

BTW, Do you still think Obama is just like Scalia, Roberts, Alito, and Thomas??

Not that it has anything to do with anything, but I'm assuming you're referring to my blog. If you go back and, you know, read you'll see that I didn't say that he was "just like" Scalia, Roberts, Alito, and Thomas.

[High Plains]

75. You are just about as sick as the people you're railing against.

These rapists will serve long prison terms. That's the law. It's not "coddling criminals."

You should talk to a mental health professional about your torture fantasies.

[Ghost in the Machine]

76. "You should talk to a mental health professional about your torture fantasies."

You should see someone about getting your head pulled out of your ass..

just sayin'...

[High Plains]

80. Ooh, you got me good! Take that, High Plains!

Seriously. You're a self-admitted former thug who broods over torturing people. Seek help.

[bertman]

45. Thank you, Ghost in the Machine.

[Ghost in the Machine]

51. Peace to you, bertman....

:hi:

[book_worm]

21. Yes, I do kind of like the idea of some rapists especially child rapists getting tortured.

It's torture for many of the victims to go through the process.

[ZombieHorde]

26. Would you like to be the one torturing? Would you like it to be televised?

[book_worm]

29. depends on who was raped if it were my wife or child or mother, yes, maybe so. I wouldn't mind

clipping the guys meat off. As for televised, no that's okay, doesn't need to be.

[leftofthedial]

78. please tell me it will be on basic cable

[varkam]

36. Right - because finding torture to be abhorrent is the same as defending rapists.

Your intellectual dishonesty is matched only by your violent imagination.

Oh, and before you attempt to dismiss my position as irrelevant by insinuating that I don't know the pain rape can cause (like you failed to do with ZombieHorde), I, too, was molested as a child and someone I care very deeply for was recently raped by an acquaintance. As angry as it makes me, I still wouldn't want that person tortured. Apparently, if you don't display the requisite lust for blood and vengeance then you just don't care about victims and want to defend the brutality visited upon them by the perpetrators. If you're looking for a new job, I think you'd probably fit right in as a "special interrogator" for the CIA, though you might not get to engage in some of the more brutal activities you apparently fantasize about; after all, water-boarding is soooo boring. Not enough blood or bones breaking, you know? Plus when you cover their mouths with the cloth, all you really get is a gurgling noise - not the agonizing screaming that I imagine you yearn for.

In all seriousness, though, what made you think I made my suggestion as a joke? Is it too violent and distasteful for you? Was it the meat coat thing that went a bit too far? Do you not like the taste of blood? Maybe it was the heads on poles bit. Regardless, though, the only difference between my suggestion and yours (well, aside from the fact that I wasn't serious) is merely a matter of degrees. What would be "too much"? I mean, if you're willing to forcibly mutilate a person for entertainment value, I can hardly think that you would be so put off by my suggestion. And, after all, going by your rubric you must want to coddle criminals and defend rapists, seeing as you you find my brand of justice so distasteful.

I guess I'll just go back to following the Const...I mean defending rapists now.

[Ghost in the Machine]

50. "In all seriousness, though, what made you think I made my suggestion as a joke?"

Yeah... it was the meat coat thing... I was with you up until then. Why punish a rapist's family for what the rapist did?

Now.. if *I* could wear the meat coat (full length, like a leather duster) we can continue to talk about this some more. It's not the fault of the parents that their kid turned into a rapist....

[citizen snips]

57. 8th amendment

n/t

[Name removed]

58. Deleted sub-thread

Sub-thread removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[yardwork]

61. The irony of your post juxtaposed against your "war crimes" sign lines is probably lost on you.

How about a totally different approach. Let's not fantasize about using violence to respond to violence.

[Ghost in the Machine]

62. How many violent criminals do you personally know?

I spent a good portion of my life being around, and running with, some very hardcore, violent people.. hell, I *was* one of them... and I know for a fact that the *ONLY* thing some people understand, or respond to, is violence.

[lamp_shade]

7. Put their peckers through a meat slicer set on "paper thin" n/t

[SoCalDem]

9. What on earth IS is about guys who want to video tape themselves having sex?

Do they think they'll never get to "do it" again, and must have video proof that they "once did it"?

and how sad is it for a guy to know in his heart that a conscious woman would not have sex with them?

I know that unconcious women have been raped, for as long as there has been booze, but sheeeeez..

There are guys who help a drunk woman get home safely, and do NOT rape her, just because they "can".. It's just too damned bad there are not more guys like that:(

[Ohio Joe]

14. Well....

My last girlfriend and I got a lot of use from my video camera... of course, she was always awake (most of the time she held the camera) and she always kept the tapes.

hmmmm, I never did ask what she did with them after we broke up. I probably should have, oh well.

[SoCalDem]

15. Have you checked YouTube?

:rofl:

[Ohio Joe]

18. Nah

I'm certain she would never put any of them on the net that showed her and she knows that putting up any ones of me is not something that would bother me in the least. Hell, I'd be the first to point people to them. She was the one that wanted to do the filming but she was not stupid and kept them for good reason :evilgrin:

[OwnedByFerrets]

59. Or worse, YouPorn.

:wow:

[EFerrari]

28. These horrible stories make me think how lucky I was

when young, stupid and trusting. :scared:

[SoCalDem]

30. ME too.. My son was horrified when I told him about my college days

I once went to a party with a guy I didn;t know..got totally wasted, and when I told him I was locked out of my dorm, and to take me to <addess here>, he did.. and all I remember about it was me laying down on the hallway floor, trying to go to sleep, while my date argued with my buddies (4 guys I knew from high-school)...arguing about how he was NOT going to leave me with FOUR guys, in my drunken state :rofl:..

I still remember Carl (all 5'7" of him threatening to PUNCH my date if he did NOT leave me with them)..my date was a KU basketball/football player 6'6"..225 lb..

They finally convinced him it was okay to leave me there, but the next morning he called to make sure I was ok..

I also remember being lectured about how dangerous it was to get drunk with guys I didn't know...those 4 guys were like mother-hens to me and my roommate.. Every time we got locked ouot, we'd high-tail it to their apartment to crash:)

The sports guy and I dated for a few months and he was always a total gentleman:)

My son said, when i told him that story one nigh.."Mom you could have been KILLED"... I had to remind him that times were waaaay different back then :)

[EFerrari]

31. My male friends and boy friends always took care of me

and would have massively hurt anyone who didn't.

Which was lucky for me because I was an idiot at the time. You'd pretty much have to come up to me waving an axe in order to trip my triggers. :rofl:

You're more brave than I am. My kids don't know squat about that and they may never.

[SoCalDem]

33. Another time, I went to a party with 4 girlfriends

and we started party-hopping..long story short, only 2 of the 5 made it back to the dorm.. I woke up on the floor of some apartment, with about 4 other people I did not know.. My purse showed up 4 days later..it ended up the the trunk of a car of a guy none of us knew:)

My roommate :grr: and 2 other girls left with some people they knew, and then the other girl I was with left with someone else to another party, leaving me..asleep on the floor..

The other people crashed there with me, ended up becoming friends..

No hanky-panky..just lots of beer ..no drugs..

[EFerrari]

34. My best friend and I moved out when we were both 16.

We got jobs and found a little cottage. We made best friends with the house full of Viet Nam vets down the block. They were all just back and all between 5 and 10 years older than we were, except, we all turned out to be about the same emotional age.

We smoked and drank and played gin rummy every night of the week. The guys hit the floor when someone rang the doorbell until one of them had the presence of mind to rip it out of the wall.

I don't even know how many weapons there were in that house or, how many guys transited in and out in the year we hung out together.

They were some of the best men I've ever met and some of the most hurting and lost (at the time), too.

Things could have gotten really ugly really fast and they never did. We planted gardens, we played cards, we talked about philosophy, we watched the sun come up a ton of times and then headed over to Denny's. There was every drug in the world available 1973 or so.

There were mostly girls my age or a little older in and out of there all the time. I can't remember any one of them ever being even inconvenienced in any way, not the least little bit. And there were shipments coming in from SE Asia at least two or three times a week from friends. Maybe someone was dealing but if someone was caught dealing, they were out of the house immediately.

Whatever my mother thought about me moving out, the reality of the risk was 100X worse. Thank God, she never knew and never had cause to find out. I eventually got really bored and enrolled in junior college. And the guys were merciless about me making it to class and doing my homework. We were like Lost Children. lol

:shrug:

[Statistical]

40. Sadly it wasn't that different back then just under reported.

My son said, when i told him that story one nigh.."Mom you could have been KILLED"... I had to remind him that times were waaaay different back then

Your son probably is right.

[dorkulon]

52. Most young men these days are raised on internet porn.

I'm not a puritan or anything, but when I was a kid (not so long ago) porn meant a couple of softcore magazines hidden under the matress. Now it's 24/7 streaming brutality of whatever variety you can imagine. I don't think that's a good thing for an adolescent's development, but I'm not surprised they would want to videotape themselves, as that's the way all the sex they've ever seen was done.

On the other hand, it's always stupid to document your own criminal behavior.

[seabeyond]

54. i can appreciate

the male that actually recognizes what is happening with our youth (both male and female) with this free and continual and overwhelming amount of porn in all forms thru the net. and the difference from not so long ago when talking porn, a mag......

so many males deny today any effects this may be causing the youth for a number of personal reasons.

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

69. If it's having sex and not raping somebody, what's wrong with that?

But yes, videotaping yourself committing a crime IS the pinnacle of dumb.

[seabeyond]

70. now a days colleges are goggling names of applicants. i know we were asked

to invest a lot of money in a water system. was going to do it cause a nephew in law. googles the company and up popped a couple employees with sites all about porn and gang. we decided the company wasnt mature enough for our cash.

my nieces boyfriend taped without girls knowing then put on the net

i can see a number of ways where it could not be to someones advantage. then again, i can see how it would not be damaging too. i guess it just depends.

[Gwendolyn]

17. The video says one of them was already involved in something similar.

Hopefully this gets three rapists off the streets for the full 18 years. Doubtful, but at least women will be a little safer for a few years at least.

They'll all be out by the time they're thirty.

[book_worm]

19. Well these "athletes" and their friend should go to prison until they are middle aged and their

dreams have passed them by. I'm so glad they videotaped this as it will be easier to convict them and harder for their attorney's to blame the victim, but I'm sure that they will try to do so anyway.

[Taverner]

20. Hmmmm Dumbasses or Psychos?

How about both!

[book_worm]

22. definitely both.

[Taverner]

23. But one must not forget the dumbasses part

Because, damn...that was stupid!

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

67. That's correct. Unfortunately, there's the non-dumb ones

which are much harder to get at.

[smalll]

27. One of the suspects' names is "Luster Ditto Lewis"???

Was he doomed to such crimes by his first name? Is his second name evidence that his parents were Ditto-heads (Limbaugh fans?)

There's one way this country definitely needs to follow France's lead: in France, judges can deny parents the right to give their children kooky names.

[Gwendolyn]

47. Is this the post-on-a-forum equivalent of laughing at a funeral?

Obviously many rapes and other crimes are committed by people with great names. :)

[L0oniX]

38. Maybe they should have joined the military where they could get away with that sort of thing.

[Statistical]

42. Yay! Nothing like totally off topic military bashing

A reminder:
Do not post broad-brush smears against US service people. Do not blame the troops for the mistakes of their officers or their Commander-in-Chief. Show the appropriate level of respect to those individuals who have put their own lives on the line to defend this country.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/forums/rules_detailed.html

[L0oniX]

43. Tell that to the 20% of women who get raped in the military!

Since when are they defending this country?

[seabeyond]

44. 1 in 3. higher than 20%. statistics makes for the broadbrush.... not your post. i agree

with the intent of your post.

[Statistical]

49. You are aware that one in three women are sexually assaulted in the United States right?

To imply rape is a problem only in the military is a sad way of attacking the military.
If you have a problem with the rules of the forum take it up with the moderators.

[seabeyond]

53. may be that a mere 1 in 3 women are raped in the military, BUT the military higher up consistently

ignore, dismiss, repute the charges and allegations being stated against the military men raping. so though not every military man is raping, as a whole the institution allows the rapes, complicit in the act, reinforcing the rape by ignoring or denying it and not charging the men with rape.

as a whole

[Incitatus]

55. Not much unlike the Catholic Church. nt

[seabeyond]

56. we fund our military. not the catholic church. two different entities.

but no.... not a lot of difference in denying, burying heads in stand, refusing to prosecute, ect...

[LanternWaste]

74. or spouses, or teachers, or doctors too...?

"Not much unlike the Catholic Church"
Or spouses? Or doctors or teachers? (as the relative and absolute numbers of spouses, doctors and teachers appear to have a higher rate of assault than do the clergy. (But then again, I realize that putting doctors and teachers in your subject line would not have the melodramatic intent as required by your agenda...)



"64% of women who reported being raped, physically assaulted, and/or stalked since age 18 were victimized by a current or former husband, cohabiting partner, boyfriend, or date."

Doctors guilty of rape: 12%
Teachers guilty of rape: 11.2%
Clergy guilty of rape: 7.3%

http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/nij/topics/crime/rape-sexual-violence/victims-perpetrators.htm
http://www.feminist.com/antiviolence/facts.html
http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/crimoff.htm

[L0oniX]

71. I don't have a problem with the rules. I have a problem with our soldiers raping other soldiers.

Wake up ...I wasn't implying that only the military has this problem. If you have a problem with me then use the freaking ignore button. Duh!

[MountainLaurel]

39. I'd bet this isn't their first time doing this

I'd bet if you talked to young women from their hometowns, you'd hear more than one story about these guys raping a girl after a party or a date.

[RiverStone]

41. I hope this very incriminating evidence will spare the victim a trial

If these 3 pieces of sewage have any humanity left, the will plead guilty and skip putting her through more pain.

Glad they will be locked up for a long time!!!

[Bluebear]

46. (Luster Ditto Lewis!? - oh my!)

[Dead_Parrot]

64. John Paul II & Ditto?

...Wait, what?

[Tutonic]

65. Republican values.

[Name removed]

68. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Hell Hath No Fury]

72. They need to go away....

and stay away for good. :mad:

[PVnRT]

73. Well, I guess she had it coming

I mean, she went there after getting called, what did she expect? :sarcasm:

Note: People out there will use this as an "I'm just saying" argument.

[SalmonChantedEvening]

77. Away. For as long as possible. n/t

[JNelson6563]

81. It's quite fortunate she didn't end up dead.

Sounds like it could've easily escalated to that point. Glad they got it all on tape and now they go to prison, at least society will be safe from them for a while.

Julie

[BobTheSubgenius]

83. I'm not at all sure that excoriating torture -

and if there is a metric for grading it, horrendous torture at that - can be defined in ANY way as "coddling." If trying to rise above barbarism is weakness, we are well and truly f'ed.