No DNA in Alleged Gang-Rape of 7-Year-Old

Preliminary DNA tests found no evidence of semen on the 7-year-old New Jersey girl who police claim was gang raped after her stepsister sold her for sex.

The lawyer of 20-year-old suspect Gregory Leary, Robin Lord, says the 7-year-old fabricated the claim because she was in trouble for running away with her 15-year-old stepsister on March 30.

In a court document obtained by The Times of Trenton, assistant Mercer County prosecutor Jennifer Downing said the lack of DNA will not cripple the state's case against two men and three teenagers.

Police said that the 15-year-old sister brought the 7-year-old girl to a party on the 13th floor of Rowan Towers on the 600 block of West State Street on that Sunday afternoon.

Police said the young teen was paid for sex by several men and then took money to allow as many as seven men and boys to have sex with her sister.

Downing said the state will not seek to try the juveniles as adults. The prosecution also has asked a judge to reduce bail for Leary and 19-year-old Timear Lewis to $75,000.

The prosecution has offered plea deals to the juveniles in exchange for their testimony against the adults.

Police arrested 27 people on outstanding warrants at the Rowen Towers just days after the alleged gang rape that were unrelated to the alleged rapes. DNA was obtained in those arrests with the hopes that it would lead to a break in the rape case.

Leary was charged the same day with statutory rape and endangering the welfare of a child in connection to the alleged sex with the 15-year-old girl.