-Caveat Lector-
"More children would have been charged but they were younger than the
10-year minimum for criminal charges, authorities said."
Kids Charged in Starting Sex Ring
YORK HAVEN, Pa. (AP) - A ring of children as young as 7 in a small
Pennsylvania community taught each other to have sex, and a half-dozen of
them have been charged in juvenile court.
The children, all students at Northeastern Middle School or York Haven
Elementary School, hid their activities from adults but readily answered
questions asked by police. Their candor was all the more troubling, said
Newberry Township Police Chief Bill Myers.
``These kids knew that what they were doing wasn't right, but they didn't
know it was as bad as it was,'' Myers said. ``There was a naivete about the
legal and moral consequences.''
Six children have been charged in juvenile court on charges including rape,
involuntary deviate sexual intercourse and indecent assault, Myers said
Sunday. At least one or two have been convicted and sent to juvenile
detention facilities, he said; their sentences are sealed by juvenile court.
Incidents of incest were discovered but not pursued criminally, Myers said.
No adults were charged. The case has now been closed.
The activity started 2 1/2 years ago with just a few children, and by the
time authorities learned of it in December it involved 17 youngsters aged 7
to 16, police said.
Many of the children first became involved as victims, then they repeated
what they learned with other children, said York County Detective William
``Skip'' Clancy Jr., who helped investigate.
The assaults occurred in homes and elsewhere, such as in wooded areas, in the
small borough of York Haven, population 758, along the Susquehanna River
south of Harrisburg.
More children would have been charged but they were younger than the 10-year
minimum for criminal charges, authorities said. Investigators interviewed
about 25 children.
There was no immediate detail on punishment the convicted youngsters faced.
The prosecutor in the case, Assistant District Attorney Mary Lou Erb, did not
return telephone messages during the weekend.
Police learned of the ring after a sleepover 16th birthday party for one girl
that was attended by another 16-year-old girl, two 11-year-old boys and a
13-year-old boy, Myers said earlier.
``Supposedly what happened was they were playing spin the bottle and things
got beyond that,'' he said. ``The story was the bottle pointed toward one of
the males and he had to have intercourse with one of the girls. Well, I guess
this turned out to be just the tip of the iceberg.''
After the birthday party, one of the 16-year-olds learned that one of the
11-year-old boys had been molesting a 7-year-old neighbor, and told the
victim's mother about it.
When that woman went to police, the girl, now 17, admitted that she had been
having sex with an 11-year-old boy.
The girl who made the revelation was convicted of rape, because the
difference in ages between her and the boy was more than four years.
``I don't think (she) realized just how much trouble she was going to be
in,'' said the girl's mother, Cyndi A. Lyon of York Haven. ``I don't know how
it could involve so many kids.''
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