A video has been posted to YouTube of a man allegedly involved in the Steubenville rape case, according to WTFR. Public officials in Jefferson County are now in the spotlight because of the video, including Police Chief Bill McCafferty. McCafferty released a statement to 7News WTFR about the events that have happened recently. The statement reads as follows:
“The Steubenville police department has been aware of this recent video that was released. Since late August 2012 the subject who made the video was interviewed. This has all been turned over to the prosecutors which are the Ohio Attorney Generals Office, who is prosecuting this case. It’s always been the policy of the Steubenville Police Department not to make comments on details of a case prior to it going to trial. I know this is frustrating for some. I can’t change that now, as you know this is a high profile case and for the parties interested I believe I should not make a comment on it because I can’t make a comment on it. It’s being handled by an outside agency.”
7News also spoke with Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine about the case, saying that it is of utmost importance.
“We understand how important this case is,” said DeWine. “This is one of the most important cases to us. Our goal is to find out exactly what happened and to prosecute those who are involved.”
DeWine also wants the community to know that the goals of his office are to find the truth in what happened.
“”What I hope people will understand is that we go at this case, and go at this investigation from an impartial point of view, we simply want to find the truth. And we’re gather all the information that there is,” DeWine said. “We fully understand the importance to the community in making sure that the truth comes out and that we know exactly what’s going on.”
The video is 12-minutes long and is quite disturbing. It features teenagers on the video joking about a rape that reportedly took place on August 22. The video was posted online by hacktivist group “Knight Sec.” The victim in the rape was reportedly transported to various parties, assaulted and then photographed by athletes from Steubenville High School in Ohio. The victim is reportedly from a neighboring town. The two suspects have been identified as Trent Mays and Ma’lik Richmond.
We have embedded the video in this post and warn that it might be offensive to some.
