Citizens to rally Sunday for MoCo Council/MCPS accountability after Rockville HS gang rape

Community outrage over the alleged gang rape of a 14-year-old student in a bathroom at Rockville High School last week has spawned a rally planned for tomorrow, Sunday, March 26, at 4:00 PM, in front of the Montgomery County Council building at 100 Maryland Avenue in Rockville. Speakers will include community activists and organizations, and political candidates who will be running in 2018.

While emotions are running high over the gang rape, rally organizers say they're asking attendees to protest with a "firm but calm demeanor" - and to create and bring their own signs.

Many blame the County Executive, County Council and Montgomery County Public Schools for policies and security lapses which they feel allowed the bathroom assault to occur. Those officials' decision to wait several days to comment publicly, their often tone-deaf response, and the sense that they were angrier about criticism directed at them than about the rape itself, further outraged county residents. MCPS Superintendent Jack Smith was blasted for an inept response, and pilloried online for calling parents racists and xenophobes. A petition is now calling for Smith's resignation. It has 1387 signatures at press time.

Attorney for Rockville HS gang rape suspect says incident was "not a rape in any sense"

Henry Sanchez

Promises defense will

put 14-year-old victim's

"character into play"

A lawyer with the law firm representing one of the two alleged assailants in the gang rape of a 14-year-old girl at Rockville High School last week outlined the defense his team will pursue last night on Fox News. His client, 18-year-old Henry Sanchez, is an illegal immigrant who was enrolled as a "freshman" at the school.

Graphic details in the police report suggest a violent, bloody scene, with the victim screaming for help as she was allegedly assaulted, raped and sodomized by Sanchez and Jose Montano, 17. But according to Sanchez's defense attorney, David Moyse, "This was a consensual encounter, not a rape in any sense."

Appearing on Tucker Carlson Tonight last night, Moyse asserted that there is no evidence to suggest the incident was "in any way illegal." Despite being an attorney, Moyse was apparently unaware that any sexual encounter between an adult and a 14-year-old is, in fact, illegal. Even if all parties claim it was consensual, it is still statutory rape.

Moyse hinted that his team will potentially trash the victim in court. "I'm sure there could be a number of questions asked about all three of the people involved," he told Carlson. Moyse said the defense will put her "character into play."

Some have questioned how Sanchez can afford a respected defense team to represent him, while Montano has only a public defender. Pressed by Carlson on who is paying for the firm's services, Moyse declined to answer.

Rockville rape suspect "confident he will be exonerated" in brutal Rockville High School assault

Henry Sanchez, one of two illegal immigrants charged in the vicious gang rape of a 14-year-old girl at Rockville High School last Thursday, says he is "confident he will be exonerated," his attorney told the Washington Post Wednesday. Despite the tremendous physical evidence of rape detailed in a police report, Sanchez, 18, is now claiming he and fellow defendant Jose Montano had consensual sex with the victim in a school bathroom.

While Montano, 17, is being represented by a public defender, Sanchez mysteriously has been able to lawyer up with criminal defense attorney Andrew Jezic. It's hard to believe any respectable attorney would want to get anywhere near a couple of toxic defendants like these. Interestingly, the Post closed the comment section on its article reporting Sanchez's 100%-not-guilty stance. The only good news about Sanchez's bizarre legal strategy is that it will increase the chance of him receiving a life sentence, by not seeking a plea deal in what should be a slam-dunk case.

Meanwhile, Montgomery County elected officials who were stone silent on the brutal rape for days now have a lot to say about outrage over their appalling handling of the incident expressed by Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan. Roger Berliner, who delivered a tone-deaf, belated response to the gang rape three days later, lashed out at Hogan. So did Delegate Eric Luedtke (D - District 14).

Here's what's interesting: Much like Montgomery County Public Schools Superintendent Jack Smith, who is now the subject of a citizen petition calling for his removal, Berliner sounds angrier when he talks about critics of the Council and MCPS for their role in this rape, than when he speaks about the rape itself.

Also interesting: Check out Del. Luedtke's Facebook feed. He is exploding with rage against his own constituents, Hogan and the White House for their criticism of all who bear responsibility for this attack at the county level. But scroll back several days to Friday, when the gang rape was publicly announced. On none of those days did Luedtke lash out against the accused rapists, or even mention the rape at all!

I scrolled and scrolled, and could find no Friday post by Luedtke condemning the accused rapists, nor expressing concern for the victim. Saturday? Nope. Sunday? Nada. Monday? Zippo. The first mention of the rape case on Luedtke's feed was on Tuesday, and it was attacking Hogan.

Luedtke was not moved to respond with horror for the victim's ordeal, nor with anger against the "alleged" perpetrators. Only after justified criticism started being aimed at Montgomery County's "leadership" did Luedtke feel compelled to respond, and address this gang rape on Facebook. It's beyond belief.

Not only has the response by our county elected officials been weak, empty, and with no palpable feeling behind it, but it seems that only some actual "adult supervision" by officials at the state and federal level will result in any meaningful and necessary policy changes within MCPS and Montgomery County. Hogan and the U.S. Justice and Education Departments may well have to pull the proverbial car to the side of the road, and "come back there," if MoCo's childish leaders can't get a grip on one of the most horrific events in MCPS history.

MCPS super "sounded like an idiot" as MoCo officials' weak Rockville HS rape response continues

Facing heavy local and national criticism over the Montgomery County policies that enabled two college-age illegal immigrants to allegedly gang rape a 14-year-old girl in a bathroom at Rockville High School last week, Montgomery County Public Schools Superintendent Jack Smith spoke at a PTA meeting at the school closed to reporters last night. Attendees I spoke to left disappointed in Smith's performance and the meeting. "He sounded like an idiot," one said. Reportedly, only a few people were even allowed to ask questions. But, along with Smith's 5-day silence and bizarre press conference prior to the meeting, expectations should have been low.

Sounding like an even-more-mellow cross between Stuart Smalley and the economics teacher in Ferris Bueller's Day Off, Smith half-heartedly lamented the "terrible, horrible thing" that happened last Thursday at his press conference. His responses echoed the almost-sociopathic, emotionless comments of Montgomery County Council President Roger Berliner, whose tone-deaf performance at a Monday press conference generated outrage and disbelief on social media after I reported on it yesterday (hard to believe I was the only media outlet that did, with empathy-free gems like "Bad things happen").

Smith said the alleged rapists "chose to do something very, very bad, from all of the allegations. People choose to do very bad things." I mean, the guy sounded like a 5-year-old tattling on a classmate. "We're talking about, 'Why was this student in this school?' And he was there to get to the services that were best suited to his needs. He chose to go outside of that purpose, and do a really bad thing." Give me a break! He's talking about a vicious gang rape, a brutal physical assault, a 14-year-old girl being raped and sodomized by two men in a restroom as if it was a prankster setting off a stink bomb at school.

"A really bad thing?" After the performances of Berliner and Smith, I think parents and the community would at least like to see somebody actually express real anger and outrage. Maybe pound a fist on a desk, flip over a tray of deli sandwiches, or otherwise display some other emotion than smug, defensive superiority and condescension toward the public. We're talking about one of the most horrifying things that has happened in the history of Montgomery County Public Schools here. For God's sake, show some humanity, remorse for your failure to protect your most vulnerable constituents - children, and an urgent resolve to change your ways and policies.

What's really scary and concerning for students and parents? Smith only got even slightly animated when he was on the attack against critics and enemies real and imagined, not when talking about the gang rape and the victim. He literally sounded more empathetic toward the illegal man-children trying to play freshmen at MCPS high schools than toward the victim. It's disgusting.

Smith admonished those who "want to make a political comment," and then proceeded to repeatedly make political comments. One of the most hysterical moments of the press conference was when Smith pointedly stated how closely Montgomery County supposedly follows "the law of the land." "We do our business by the rule of law," Smith said righteously, apparently unaware of the extreme hypocrisy of stating that in a sanctuary county that defies federal immigration law on a daily basis. Do you follow "the rule of law," or not? Smith apparently doesn't know. He also placed air quotes around the term, "illegal," clearly a political statement, whether you agree or disagree. Again, it's outrageous that during his political comments, he raised the volume of his voice and became more animated than when speaking about the rape and the victim.

Smith emphasized repeatedly that MCPS schools are "safe," when the reality is that some other parent's daughter is one mad decision away from being victimized by similar criminals lurking in our school system. No criminal background checks are run on any student, Smith revealed. For those parents trying to figure out why adults recently arriving in America are enrolled as 9th graders alongside their 14-year-old daughters, Smith had sobering news: "We have a great number of 18-year-olds and 19-year-olds enrolled across all 25 of our high schools."

The superintendent spoke of there being 5 security guards and one school resource officer on campus at Rockville High School, but couldn't explain where all six were during Thursday's bathroom assault. There is no evidence whatsoever that MCPS students are "safe" from similar sexual assaults in the future.

Officials appear to have completely misread the public's concerns about this particular incident, and what it means for student safety across MCPS. They instead seem to be reverting to the way they respond to immigration issues in general, which is to cast themselves as morally-superior, chastising the evil "racists" daring to question their policies. The problem is, we're not talking about the general immigration debate here, such as the future fate of the 13 million undocumented immigrants in America, and "deporting Grandma." That is, of course, the debate county officials wish they were having, and would like to divert attention to Donald Trump - who is highly unpopular in liberal MoCo - rather than the rape of a child that is "on them."

People are instead demanding answers about the specific policies and decisions of Montgomery County that allowed a 14-year-old girl to be gang-raped in a bathroom inside a Montgomery County public school by two college-age "freshmen" - one of whom MCPS does not even have a home address on file for, much less a criminal history.

Those policies and decision-making priorities need to change, and until they do, no student is truly "safe."

Rockville residents weigh in on Rockville HS gang rape on national TV

Fox News host Tucker Carlson
discusses Rockville HS rape
case with Rockville resident
Brigitta Mullican

Rockville has found itself on the national stage over the last four days, and it's just about the worst look possible for the All-American City-award winner. The alleged brutal gang rape of a 14-year-old girl at Rockville High School by two illegal immigrant classmates quickly went viral, and has been picked up by the national press. Tweets about the incident are cranked out every few minutes on Twitter, and yesterday, the story hit national cable television news.

Rockville resident Dan McHugh
on Special Report with Bret Baier

Two Rockville residents, Dan McHugh and Brigitta Mullican, weighed in on the horrifying story on Fox News yesterday evening. McHugh, who is the current Vice-President of the Montgomery County Young Republicans, started his day on WMAL radio. But he made a TV appearance on Bret Baier's Special Report on Fox News Channel, as well, telling reporter Doug McElway of the impacts of Montgomery County's sanctuary city policies on taxes, school performance and crime.

Brigitta Mullican

Three hours later, Rockville resident Brigitta Mullican joined Fox host Tucker Carlson to discuss the "horrifying news," in his words. Mullican, an American citizen who emigrated here legally decades ago, asked how the illegal immigrants had "the opportunity to commit this kind of crime" at Rockville High School.

Carlson read from Mullican's testimony at last month's public hearing regarding a push by some Rockville elected officials to formally declare Rockville a "sanctuary city." Mullican said the driver who brought her to the Fox studios told her his father spent eight years trying to navigate the legal steps to becoming an American citizen. She said giving undocumented immigrants special preference, and exemption from the law, is unfair.

Briefed on the current situation of undocumented immigrants flooding Montgomery County Public Schools, Carlson offered his assessment of MCPS: "At this point, [MCPS is] saying, 'we don't care about education' - isn't that the message?"

MoCo Council President on Rockville HS gang rape: "Bad things happen"

After hiding from their constituents and the press for four days, Montgomery County elected officials yesterday began to react to the alleged gang rape of a 14-year-old girl by two illegal immigrants at Rockville High School last Thursday. It was notable that County Council President Roger Berliner did not begin his weekly press conference by making a statement about the incident, which is foremost on the minds of county residents and parents. Only after being asked about the rape by a reporter, did Berliner comment. "Bad things happen," he suggested at one point.

Asked about the hot topic of why adults (the accused rapists are 17 and 18) are allowed to enroll as ninth-graders in Montgomery County Public Schools, Berliner endorsed the idea as a sound education policy for those with poor English skills.

In regard to the County's de facto sanctuary policies regarding citizenship status, a reporter asked if officials thought the incident should bring those policies into question now. Berliner disputed that idea in a puzzling way, asserting that the rape incident "reinforces why Montgomery County does what it does."

What was perhaps most troubling, was the passive, past-tense description of how the County would respond to the threat of serious crime, such as the gang rape incident. While most illegal immigrants do not engage in serious crime activity, Berliner said, "some of them do terrible things...and then we need to take care of it." In other words, our elected officials will allow a scenario in which we know "terrible things" will indeed happen, and then the County will "take care of it." That cannot be comforting to the victim of Thursday's brutal sexual assault in a bathroom at the school, who was allegedly gang-raped and sodomized. Wouldn't it make more sense to remove the criminal threat from the community and our schools before "bad things happen?"

Berliner went on to say the County does cooperate in limited circumstances with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) when the agency alerts them when prisoners in custody "have committed federal crimes." But just yesterday, Montgomery County was placed on a new federal list of jurisdictions that "limit cooperation with ICE."

"Is there some coddling [of illegal immigrants] here that might have contributed to this crime?" asked a reporter. Berliner denied that was the case, and claimed those being "coddled" by the Council are longtime residents, whose only crime is being "undocumented." "We're coddling, and I'm proud of it," Berliner said.

Amidst fallout of brutal Rockville HS gang rape, MoCo lands on new ICE sanctuary city list

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security's Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) division included Montgomery County on a list of jurisdictions that have ignored federal detainers on jailed criminals ICE sought to deport between January 28 and February 3, 2017. It also placed Montgomery on a separate list of "Jurisdictions that have Enacted Policies which Limit Cooperation with ICE." That designation directly contradicts assertions by MoCo officials that the county is not a sanctuary jurisdiction. And it comes only days after the alleged brutal gang rape of a female student at Rockville High School by two illegal immigrants.

Line 3 of this chart details just
one of the ICE detainers ignored
by Montgomery County on an
illegal immigrant charged with
assault here in the county

According to the report, during the six-day period studied, ICE placed a detainer on an unidentified illegal alien from El Salvador who had been charged with assault in Montgomery County, and was being held in the County detention center. Montgomery County declined the detainer in that case, according to ICE records, meaning that individual is back on the streets here in the county after his release.

MoCo lands on list of
jurisdictions that "limit
cooperation with ICE"
four days after two illegal
immigrants sought by ICE
were charged with the brutal
gang rape of a 14-year-old girl
at Rockville High School

Montgomery County's informal sanctuary policies indeed make it an outlier - the list of jurisdictions included on the limited-cooperation list is fairly short, when you consider how many cities and counties there are nationwide. Its inclusion on the list, and refusal to assist ICE in deporting an individual charged with assault here in the county, is not a good look after two illegal immigrants were charged with the brutal gang rape of a 14-year-old girl at Rockville High School last week.

The list is a new publication that will be updated regularly by ICE, and should be interesting reading as MoCo officials continue to make false statements regarding the true nature of their "cooperation" with ICE. This report suggests they have earned a Four Pinocchio/Pants-on-Fire rating with such statements.