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April 4, 2012

Trial set for fourth suspect in alleged gang rape

By Julie Manganis Staff writer

SALEM — The trial of the fourth person charged in a violent gang rape inside a Lynn apartment four years ago is now scheduled for June 20.

But a lawyer for Harold Baltodano, 22, of Lynn said in court yesterday that they have not ruled out an attempt at trying to resolve the case short of a trial.

Baltodano and three buddies, all seniors at Salem High School back in 2008, were charged with aggravated rape after Baltodano allegedly offered a ride home to a 17-year-old Salem girl he'd once briefly dated.

The girl, who had been drinking after going to a basketball game in Lynn, had called him, after both her mother and a girlfriend did not pick her up, she testified last month during the trial of a co-defendant, Rafael Nina-Brito, 22.

Baltodano and his classmates brought the girl back to Nina-Brito's mother's apartment in Lynn, where, the girl testified, she was sexually assaulted by all four.

Two of the suspects, Justin Louf, 21, and Luis Arias, 22, pleaded guilty and were sentenced to prison terms just before their trial was set to get under way. Nina-Brito was found guilty of rape last week and is due to be sentenced on April 19.

Baltodano, who is also facing a charge of witness intimidation, is scheduled to be in court April 19 for a pretrial hearing. However, his lawyer, John Morris, told a judge yesterday that he may ask the judge and the prosecutor, Greg Friedholm, to meet to discuss a resolution of the case short of a trial.

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