On the day that MySpace agreed to work with 49 states to stop sexual predators from using the social networking site to find young victims, Queens District Attorney Richard Brown was announcing a disturbing 56-charge criminal complaint against a couple accused of rape, sexual abuse, and forcing two young teens into performing sexual acts at a Manhattan strip club. Julio Rojas, a stripper, is being held on $500,000 bail while his wife, Sophie Soto, also a stripper, is being held on $250,000 bail.
Soto allegedly befriended one of the girls (who were either 13 or 14 during the time of the attack, but claimed she was 16) on MySpace, claiming to be an inexperienced 18-year-old. Per the Daily News, "Soto and the teen...exchanged sexually explicit online messages, phone calls and photos." Soto also corresponded with another under-15 friend of the girl's. When the girls visited her apartment (Soto claimed to need support because she would be having sex with a man for the first time), the abuse began. From the Queen DA's statement:
Once there, it is alleged that Soto gave the girls liquor, telling them that drinking would loosen them up. After a few drinks, Soto allegedly told the girls to take showers, after which Soto gave them several more drinks. When the two girls became intoxicated, Soto allegedly took them into the bedroom where she sexually abused them before the defendant Rojas came into the bedroom and had sexual intercourse with all three females.
Later that night, according to the charges, the two defendants took the girls to a couple of nightclubs - for which Soto allegedly provided the underage girls with fake identification cards. However, unable to get into the clubs, the defendants allegedly took the girls to a Manhattan strip club. Once there, it is alleged that Soto performed a strip tease dance on stage and then brought Victim A on stage and had her strip and engage in oral sex with both her (Soto) and several club patrons as part of the show while another female took Victim B on stage and engaged in similar activities.
This incident occurred in January of 2007, and the Queens DA notes that the teens were abused by the couple in February and March 2007 as well. The authorities got involved when the teens told their parents.
The News said that Rojas had been "scheduled to perform this Saturday night at a Brooklyn strip club."
