Twin Falls County Prosecutor Grant Loebs argued the rape allegations were misreported by social media and other news outlets that targeted the boys as Syrian refugees.
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His comments largely refute several differing accounts about the incident circulating on anti-refugee resettlement and conspiracy websites and anti-Muslim blogs.
Police and Loebs’ office were saying little last week, but the story blew up over the weekend after the boys were taken into custody.
On Monday, the prosecutor and local investigators worked to dismiss the claims of the anti-Syrian refugee groups and to clarify what actually did happen in Twin Falls, Idaho (while protecting the privacy rights of the victim and other minors involved).
Davis Odell, who stated a Facebook group called “Justice for Our Children”, said she was upset that police did not make arrests until Thursday – even though the incident occurred June 2. Loebs says, “It doesn’t matter the people are that did this”.
Twin Falls Police has confirmed that three boys, age 14,10, and 7, assaulted a 5-year-old girl at the Fawnbrook Apartments, while the 7-year-old is the only one to have made physical contact with the child. Only one person is alleged to have physically touched the victim. “And so they’re susceptible to this country’s laws and Idaho’s laws”. The case is sealed because they are juveniles. The boys were of Iraqi and Sudanese backgrounds, but police do not know if they are refugees or not.
The reports caused an uproar among local residents of Twin Falls, who are accusing the local government of a “cover up” to protect a refugee resettlement center at the College of Southern Idaho. It is estimated that the young boys involved in the crime have been in the United States less than two years, and their status as refugees was not immediately known.
Members of the Twin Falls community believe that by not releasing more information about the case, authorities are behind a cover-up.
The Twin Falls City Council should have better handled reports of a young girl who was sexually assaulted by boys at a Twin Falls apartment complex earlier this month, said many residents who addressed the board at its meeting Monday night.
However, anti-refugee activists have aggressively pushed the story, arguing that police failed to respond the alleged incident in a timely manner.
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“There have been periodic website postings about hundreds of Syrians coming to Idaho that have all proven to be false in the past, and this is probably just one of those attempts to try and stir up hatred and bigotry.”
