Ohio officials are considering charges against anyone who failed to speak up after the Steubenville rape, including other teens, parents, school officials and coaches. Two Steubenville girls have already been charged with threatening the rape victim over social media.
Activists protest at the Jefferson County Courthouse in Steubenville, Ohio, Jan. 15. Two young men were convicted March 17 of raping a nearly unconscious 16-year-old girl during a night of partying in Steubenville. Officials are now considering charges against those who knew about the rape and did nothing, and have already filed charges against two girls who allegedly threatened the victim.
Michael D. McElwain / Steubenville Herald-Star / AP / File
EnlargeThe head football coach at?Steubenville?High School and the owners of a house where an infamous 12-minute video was filmed could be investigated as Ohio prosecutors look into how adults responded to allegations of rape last year.
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One day after a judge convicted two high school football players of raping the 16-year-old girl in August, Steubenville's?top official said she welcomed a new, wide-ranging probe into possible wrongdoing connected with the rape.
The announcement of the guilty verdict was barely an hour old Sunday when state Attorney General Mike DeWine said he was continuing his investigation and would consider charges against anyone who failed to speak up after the summertime attack. That group could include other teens, parents, school officials and coaches for the high school's beloved football team, which has won nine state championships.
Authorities also said they won't put up with people harassing the accuser and took action Monday to prove it, arresting two girls suspected of threatening her well-being in Facebook and Twitter comments Sunday. The Jefferson County girls, ages 15 and 16, were being held in juvenile detention,?Steubenville?police Capt. Joel Walker said.
The older girl was charged with aggravated menacing for a tweet that threatened homicide and said "you ripped my family apart," according to the attorney general's office. A Facebook posting from the younger girl threatened the accuser with bodily harm, leading to a menacing charge, the office said.
"These arrests, I hope, will end the harassment of the victim," DeWine said. "We are simply not going to tolerate this. Enough is enough."
The case brought international attention to the small city of 18,000 and led to allegations of a cover-up to protect the?Steubenville?High School football team.
According to trial testimony, one of the two football players said the coach knew about what happened and "took care of it."
The video, passed around widely online, depicted a student joking about the attack. "She is so raped right now," the boy says.
Investigators interviewed the owners of a?Steubenville?house where the video was filmed, which was also the same place a photograph was taken of the girl being carried by her ankles and wrists, DeWine's office confirmed Monday. That picture, Exhibit No. 1 at the trial, generated international outrage. There is no phone listing for the home.
Numerous students, including defendant Trenton Mays, referred to the girl as "dead" in text messages the night of the attacks, apparently in reference to her unconscious state. The girl, who acknowledged drinking, testified she had no memory of the assaults.
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