I LIVE where this is happening!!!
NEW CASTLE, Pa. -- Pennsylvania state troopers are trying to identify a group of young Amish men who they say indecently assaulted three girls recently in Wilmington Township, Lawrence County.
"The state police respond to any incident. It's a crime. We don't take into consideration anyone's race, creed or religion. We deal with the incident at hand, and that's the way this is going to be handled," Trooper Matthew Roth said on Wednesday.
The incident happened Sept. 2 at a horse auction that the children attended with their parents on Route 208, according to police at the New Castle station."I believe the parents were inside conducting business at the livestock area, and the girls were in more of a playground area outside," Roth said.
Five men groped and fondled the girls, two of whom are 13 and the other age 12, according to a police report."It's believed that the individuals who did the assault were intoxicated and did pull one of the young girls down a set of stairs and punched her in the arm or something," Roth said.
Police said several witnesses have backed up the girls' account of the incident.
An Amish-related investigation "has its technology challenges," Roth said. "We can't just get on the phone and contact these folks. But they do cooperate as victims. They do cooperate when they are accused."
Although no arrests have been made, police said they have some leads on the identities of the men, whom they believe range in age from 18 to 25 and are from the New Wilmington area.
Slideshow of photos
NEW CASTLE, Pa. -- Pennsylvania state troopers are trying to identify a group of young Amish men who they say indecently assaulted three girls recently in Wilmington Township, Lawrence County.
"The state police respond to any incident. It's a crime. We don't take into consideration anyone's race, creed or religion. We deal with the incident at hand, and that's the way this is going to be handled," Trooper Matthew Roth said on Wednesday.
The incident happened Sept. 2 at a horse auction that the children attended with their parents on Route 208, according to police at the New Castle station."I believe the parents were inside conducting business at the livestock area, and the girls were in more of a playground area outside," Roth said.
Five men groped and fondled the girls, two of whom are 13 and the other age 12, according to a police report."It's believed that the individuals who did the assault were intoxicated and did pull one of the young girls down a set of stairs and punched her in the arm or something," Roth said.
Police said several witnesses have backed up the girls' account of the incident.
An Amish-related investigation "has its technology challenges," Roth said. "We can't just get on the phone and contact these folks. But they do cooperate as victims. They do cooperate when they are accused."
Although no arrests have been made, police said they have some leads on the identities of the men, whom they believe range in age from 18 to 25 and are from the New Wilmington area.
Slideshow of photos
