The 89-year-old woman who was sexually assaulted and nearly smothered during a home invasion robbery this week said this morning that she is "delighted" to hear arrests were made in the case. "I'm bruised all over from the beating they gave me," the woman said as she stood in the driveway of her home in Palm Terrace Gardens. She said is "surviving," but still in pain. "I'm 4-11 but have 6 feet of pain," said the woman, who told investigators that three masked men broke into her home, raped her, ransacked the house while looking for money and tried to smother her with a pillow. She told investigators that she heard one of her assailants say, "Is she dead yet?" The Pasco County Sheriff's Office arrested Carlos Fernandez, 15, and Luis Reyes Jr., 14 were charged with attempted first-degree murder, sexual battery, grand theft auto and burglary.
The mother of Reyes, though, said today that her son didn't participate in the attack, although he was at the woman's house when it happened. Aida Santiago said her son stood at the door and froze when he saw the woman was being assaulted by the other two people.
"He is angry at himself for being there," she said.
Santiago said she turned her son in to the sheriff's office. She said his mistake was picking the wrong friends and she had warned him about associating with Fernandez.
"I told him, 'He is bad news. Don't hang with him,' " she said.
Investigators said that Wednesday wasn't the first time Fernandez and Reyes were at the woman's home. On April 2, the teens, along with 16-year-old Sean Michael Maus, broke into the woman's house, the sheriff's office reported.
They took a flashlight, snacks and the keys to her car, which they took on a "joy ride," the sheriff's office reported. The car was recovered.
Reyes and Fernandez have been charged in the car theft. The teens also have been charged in connection with recent burglaries at Georgia's Smoke Shop, 11134 U.S. 19 Port Richey, and Jasmine Discount Beverage, 10604 Devco Drive, Port Richey.
Maus, of 11240 Snyder Ave., Port Richey, was arrested Wednesday and charged with grand theft auto and burglary.
Detectives are investigating whether Maus is connected to the sexual assault and robbery of the woman, sheriff's spokesman Kevin Doll said.
The parents of Fernandez and Maus couldn't be reached for comment.
Dawn Walzak, a neighbor who knows the Maus family, said Maus' mother was a caregiver for the woman who was attacked.
Walzak said she is angry about the situation, both because of the crimes committed against the woman and because of Maus' possible involvement in at least leading the other teens to the woman's house.
"I hate to think any teenage boy has the capability to do this to that woman," Walzak said.
She also said Maus' mother should have realized when the car was stolen that her son had access to the car.
Walzak said she has known Maus since he was at student at Schrader Elementary School, where her son also attended. Maus was in special education classes and one of his legs didn't grow correctly, she said. Often he was in a cast or a wheelchair because of medical procedures to try to correct the problem, she said.
Walzak said her family used to secretly leave gifts at the Maus house on Christmas Eve because they worried the children there wouldn't get any presents.
She said Maus was a "good boy who had potential," but had a difficult home life and "what was bad in his life was so bad" he couldn't overcome it.
