Nov 5, 2009 9:00 am US/Pacific
Woman Who Called 911 About Gang Rape Speaks Out
California Police: Student, 15, Assaulted By Several Men, Teens While More Watched
RICHMOND, Calif. (CBS) ―
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Margarita Vargas, seen in this video grab, immediately called 911 upon learning of a gang rape attack on a teen girl on the campus of a high school in Richmond, Calif.
CBS
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19-year-old suspect Manuel Ortega
Richmond PD
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Police cars sit parked outside Richmond High School on Tuesday, Oct. 27, 2009, in Richmond, Calif.
AP
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21-year-old suspect Salvador Rodriguez of Richmond
Richmond Police Department
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18-year-old Jose Carlos Montano.
Richmond Police Department
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A police officer leads a suspect in the gang rape of a Richmond High School girl into a patrol car Tuesday.
CBS
Police in Richmond, Calif., admit that not all teenagers or adults would do what 18-year-old Margarita Vargas did on the night of Oct. 24. When her brother-in-law came home and told her a teenage girl had been gang raped outside a homecoming dance, Vargas didn't hesitate to call 911. She even went to go find the alleged victim after hanging up the phone.
"I was watching a movie, and my brother-in-law came in and he told me 'I don't know what to do, because there is a girl back there and she has been raped. I'm scared,'" Vargas told CBS station KPIX-TV in San Francisco.
"I'm like 'We should call the cops because that's the right thing to do.' I didn't think about it twice."
Vargas said she called police because she would want someone to do the same if she ever was in that situation.
After making the call, Vargas went to the scene to check on the girl.
"I could tell that she had been beat up because her face was swollen," Vargas said. "She was naked, didn't have shoes. They just covered her up and stuff."
The girl who was attacked is just a few years younger than the woman police now call the Good Samaritan. Vargas said she would like to reach out to the victim again.
"I would like to talk to her. I would just, not to be nosey or stuff, but I would like to ask how she's feeling. I would want her to know that she can get through it. It will take awhile but she can get through it," she said.
Vargas said she would pick up that phone again and call for help. But she also understands why others won't.
"I think people are scared, especially in a community like this where 'snitching' is a big thing to people," she said.
Vargas said she does not believe there is such a thing as "snitching," especially in a case such as this. Calling for help, she said is just the right thing to do.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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