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3 boro minors abused in spate of sex assaults

By Courtney Dentch

A 13-year-old boy was arrested Friday in South Jamaica on juvenile sodomy charges after an 11-year-old girl said he and another boy forced her into a closet at MS 72 and assaulted her, police said.

In a second incident in southeast Queens, a 12-year-old girl told her mother that she had been sexually abused by her stepfather, police said. Both adults were arrested after the mother stabbed the stepfather in the legs and the back, and the girl was placed in foster care with a relative, police said.

Across the borough in Corona, a 12-year-old girl told police that a 14-year-old boy had forced her to perform a sex act on him in the stairwell of their school, police said. The boy was arrested and faces charges of sodomy and endangering the welfare of a minor, according to authorities.

All names are being withheld to protect the privacy of the children.

The first school incident in South Jamaica occurred last Thursday at about 2:30 p.m., just before school let out at MS 72, the Catherine and Count Basie School, at 133-25 Guy R. Brewer Blvd. An 11-year-old girl told school officials the next day that she was forced into a closet inside a classroom by two boys, 12 and 13-years-old, where the older boy sodomized her, police said.

The 13-year-old boy was arrested on juvenile charges of first-degree sodomy and released to his parents, police said.

Investigators were unable to determine the second boy’s role, police said.

The boys were put on superintendent’s suspension, which requires them to report to classes at the district suspension center for up to 10 days, said Kevin Ortiz, a spokesman for the city Board of Education. The boys’ situations will be re-evaluated at the end of the 10 days, pending the result of the police investigation, he said.

In the second incident, a Jamaica woman stabbed her husband in the legs and the back Sunday after her 12-year-old daughter told her that he had sexually abused her, police said. Both the mother and her husband, the girl’s stepfather, were arrested at 10 a.m. Sunday, police said.

The woman was charged with second-degree assault, and her husband faces sexual assault charges, police said. The man was treated for his injuries at Jamaica Hospital Center, police said.

The girl was placed in foster care with a relative, said Kathleen Walsh, a spokeswoman for the Administration of Children’s Services. The agency has no prior history of dealing with the family, Walsh said.

The woman was arraigned on the assault charges and released on $1,000 bail, while her husband was remanded on $2,500 bail, a spokeswoman for the Queens district attorney said.

In the assault at IS 61 in Corona, a 12-year-old girl and her parents went to the police Monday to report that a 14-year-old boy had forced the girl into a stairwell and made her perform a sex act on him, police said. The incident happened at the school at 98-50 50th Ave. at 1:40 p.m. Friday, again just before classes were dismissed, police said.

Police arrested the boy Monday and charged him with first-degree sodomy and endangering the welfare of a minor, police said.

The boy was suspended for five days, pending the outcome of the police investigation, Ortiz said.

Reach reporter Courtney Dentch by e-mail at TimesLedger@aol.com, or by phone at 229-0300, Ext. 138.