Cleveland police investigating possible sex assault of 15-year-old teen

CLEVELAND, TX

Cleveland police are not saying much about the allegations, telling us they first heard about it Tuesday night. They tell us it's "possible" more than one person raped the 15-year-old girl.

There is still crime scene tape draped across the driveway of what neighbors tell us is an abandoned home in Cleveland. They say police descended upon the house Wednesday morning.

"They just went in there with some tall boxes, buckets to get evidence and stuff out the house," neighbor Joann Jedkins said.

Jedkins was among those who watched curiously. Only later did she hear what police said about a 15-year-old girl allegedly being sexually assaulted inside.

"It's wrong because the girl, she was too young for them to do her like that," Jedkins said.

Police say the girl's parents reported the attack Tuesday night but it supposedly occurred last weekend at the house, sometime between September 27-29, those who live nearby say they did not see anything unusual at that time.

"Once again we going through the same thing we went through a few years back. And it was hurtful for our community," another neighbor said.

That neighbor who did not want to be identified says Cleveland is still viewed negatively because of the startling case in 2010, when an 11-year-old girl was gang raped by a group of young men. Six juveniles and six adults ended up pleading guilty. Two were convicted.

More recently the city of Cleveland has been working to remove dilapidated and abandoned homes.

Neighbors say this is proof there's more work yet to be done.

"If they would tear down some of the abandoned houses, this would help cut a lot of the confusion down, the rape and anything else that's going on," the neighbor said.

But the city's budget passed just last week did not provide funding for further such efforts.

Police say the alleged victim has been examined by rape experts at a Houston-area hospital. At this point, there are no charges and no one has been arrested.

The investigation continues.

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