Atwater police look for suspects in 18-year-old girl's gang rape

ATWATER, Calif. (KFSN) -- Atwater police are investigating the gang rape of an 18-year-old girl. They say Guillermo Rebollero, 20, convinced the victim to come to a party, but instead she was sexually assaulted by as many as six suspects.

An apartment complex on Kelso Street is where police say an innocent 18-year-old girl became the victim of a gang rape. She first met one of the suspects, Rebollero, through the website meetme.com but was still hesitant to go on a date after two weeks of talking online.

"He told her 'hey there's going to be a public party, there will be males and females there' to kind of lower her concerns for meeting," said Detective Matt Vierra of the Atwater Police Department.

Vierra says Rebollero picked up the teen in Merced Saturday night and drove her back to the home. But she soon realized something was wrong because the room was filled with about six males who appeared to be gang members. She managed to send one terrified text to her mother before the attack began.

"Mom did text back, saying 'I don't know where you are. I don't know what to do. I need a little bit more information to give the police.' At that point, her cellphone was taken and she was drug into the next room," said Vierra.

At some point during the sexual assault, the group spotted an Atwater police car that happened to be on patrol in the area. Investigators say the suspects assumed the teen had called 911, so they ran from the scene. The victim also jumped out a window and ran to the officer for help.

"She obviously expressed things along the lines of she didn't know if she was going to make it out of there at all," said Vierra.

Authorities are now asking the public to come forward with any information about Rebollero's whereabouts and who he was with this weekend. They're also reminding residents to be extremely careful when meeting someone through a website.

"Meet in a neutral area that's in public, not to meet with them in a closed area, especially a residence, and to get to know them prior than just the information they receive on the Internet access because this is how the predators lure the victims in," said Lt. Sammy Joseph of the Atwater Police Department.

Anyone with information on this case is asked to call Atwater police at (209) 357-6395.