LAKEWOOD — Six suspects accused in the gang rape of a 33-year-old Lake-wood woman on July 13 and one suspect accused of molesting the woman continue to remain custody in the Ocean County Jail, Toms River, while investigations into the crime are ongoing.
Robert Gasser, assistant prosecutor and public information officer in the Ocean County Prosecutor’s Office, Toms River, said the men accused of the woman’s rape are Carlos Morales, 22, and Sixto Ramirez, 20, both of Dewey Avenue, where the house in which the woman was raped is located; Dimasteidoro Mendez, 18, of Governors Road; Juan Cortez-Agnilar, 26 and Ezequiel Ramirez, 19, both of Avenue A in Freehold Borough; and a 17-year-old juvenile whose identity was not revealed due to his age.
The suspects accused of rape are being held in jail on bail of $50,000.
Ernesto Palacios-Morales, 32, also of Avenue A in Freehold Borough, is charged with molesting the woman. Palacios-Morales is being held in jail on bail of $15,000.
The men, all Mexican, accosted the woman in the basement of a house on Dewey Street after she came to visit people she knew there, authorities said.
Gasser said the victim is not Hispanic and said the men did not speak English. He said Detective Stephen Wexler of the Lakewood Police Department is investigating the suspects’ immigration status to determine whether federal immigration officials will be called into the case.