Four Massachusetts suspects appeared in the Worcester Central District Court on Wednesday, accused of kidnapping a 16-year-old girl and forcing her into a torture chamber inside a home, where they allegedly abused her for days.
Mass Live reports that authorities said the teen was not only sexually assaulted, but also hit, burned with cigarettes, and held against her will inside an Auburn home. The incident reportedly occurred from Dec. 25 to 27, until two informants tipped authorities off to a girl in need at a home at 10 White Terrace.
Auburn Police Department Officer George Vranos testified that he found the girl in a “torture chamber” inside the home, whimpering with her head shaved. The officer indicated that the victim seemed scared to look at him.
#YulenyOrtiz #YarielTorresAbee #KrystalLugo #ChristopherLugo #Kidnapping #Assault #Rape #Drugs #Auburn #Massachusetts #Torture #NewJerseyhttps://t.co/Jsn00NCgIA
Four charged after #runaway #NJ teen girl rescued from Mass. ‘torture chamber’ pic.twitter.com/2DJNy5Zpqg
— Richard D. Webster (@rdwebster) January 5, 2018
“She was looking at the floor whimpering.”
Vranos said he found cigarette butts, a pot of water, an iron, and duct tape with hair stuck in it, in the room with the victim. He added that the room, an unfinished basement, was a “torture chamber, which looked like an interrogation room.”
Prosecutors said three of the suspects were acting under the direction of Krystal Lugo, 23, who accused the victim of setting up a home invasion in an attempt to get the suspects in trouble.
Krystal Lugo “turned on the victim, blaming her for setting them up, for orchestrating the home invasion,” District Attorney Tara Nechev said.
After the suspects reportedly abducted the victim from her Leominster home, Krystal Lugo’s brother, 19-year-old Christopher Lugo, allegedly drugged the victim with Xanax-laced marijuana before raping her several times. The other suspects tortured the victim, according to prosecutors, including Krystal’s boyfriend, Yariel Torres-Abee, 22, and 19-year-old Yuleny Ortiz.
While inside the “torture chamber,” the suspects tied the teen to a chair and put a machete to her neck, while questioning her about allegedly setting them up, according to Nechev.
“The victim was picked up by all of the defendants and put into the chair. A machete was held at the victim’s neck at the direction of Krystal.”
The teen told authorities that Krystal Lugo threatened to kill her and her family if she told anyone, according to the Boston Herald.
All four defendants face kidnapping and assault charges. Christopher Lugo is also facing a rape charge. Judge Paul F. LoConto ordered Krystal Lugo to remain in jail without bond. Her next hearing is scheduled for May 3. The other three defendants are scheduled to return to court on Friday morning, when they’ll learn if the judge will allow bail or not.
[Feature Photo: Google Maps/2011]
