(RepublicanDaily.org) – The Bemidji, Minnesota, Police Department and the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension are conducting an investigation of a sexual assault after a 22-year old man was caught and charged with sexually assaulting an 11-year old Native American girl along with two other minors.
The 11-year-old girl is Ojibwe, and hails from one of the three Ojibwe Indian Reservations that surround Bemidji. Due to her status as a minor and the nature of the crime, her name was not released to the public.
Police were initially alerted to the incident after the girl went to the emergency department of the Sanford Bemidji Medical Center suffering from injuries consistent with sexual assault. After being interviewed by staff at the hospital’s Family Advocacy Center, the victim confirmed that she had indeed been sexually assaulted. Healthcare workers then called law enforcement.
Officers determined that the assault happened at a house in Bemidji located within a block of an elementary school. Based their investigation and testimony from the victim, police arrested Oscar Ernesto Luna, along with 11 other individuals, aged 18 to 56, who have been determined to be illegal immigrants. A search warrant executed at the residence provided officers with evidence of sexual assault. Several of the suspects have already been transferred into the custody of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement/Enforcement and Removal Operations (ICE/ERO).
According to the victim, a person she called an “auntie” forced her into a car to go to a “party” where she was forced to drink alcohol and then was tied up along with two other victims. The victim says at least four men took turns sexually assaulting her and the two other girls. The victim was able to escape after one of the girls was able to untie her. She told police that the men caught the other girl whom they threw down the stairs.
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