EXCLUSIVE - 'First degree rape. . . lmao': Revealed, shocking tweets at the center of a SECOND Steubenville rape claim

Tweets exchanged between star Steubenville High School athletes mock the 14-year-old 'victim' whose life they boast is 'ruined'

Second rape is alleged to have happened in April 2012 - four months before the now infamous rape that August that went onto shock America



Two schools officials indicted by Steubenville grand jury on charges relating to alleged second sex assault

Notorious Nodianos Youtube footage from first rape shows him referring to a previous assault

Members of Steubenville's 'Big Red' teams called themselves the 'Rape Crew'



Shocking tweets at the centre of a SECOND alleged rape involving boys at Steubenville High School can be revealed today.

The messages, between Steubenville High School ‘Big Red’ athletes, were posted in the aftermath of a house party held four months before the now infamous case which scandalised America when it came to trial in March.

Then, star football players Trent Mays, 16, and Ma’lik Richmond, 17, were found guilty of raping a catastrophically drunk 16-year-old girl in a night of back to back house parties in August last year.



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Callous and incriminating? Tweets exchanged in April 2012 between members of Steubenville High's 'rape team' appear to refer to a second reported 'rape'



Kai 'Lucky' McClure, left, and Evan Westlake, right, both tweeted about the second alleged Steubenville rape: Westlake, granted immunity in trial of the infamous rape that happened in August 2012, tweeted 'if was the 70s no one would care how many...were involved' around the time of the new second sex assault in April 2012

Prosecutors told how the defendants treated their victim ‘like a ragdoll,’ dragging her from party to party, photographing her, abusing her and denigrading her through social media.

Now, tweets posted in April 2012 appear to discuss an earlier assault and a second victim of the group of baseball players, footballers and wrestlers, known locally as the ‘Rape Crew’ – supposedly a reference to Big Red teams’ field domination.

In one series of tweets baseball player John Linn, wrote: ‘…I still got a nice buzz now from last night.’ He added, ‘Glad I wasn’t involved in all that sick s***.’

A retweet of a comment by wrestler Jake Howarth, at whose home one of the August house parties was held, read: ‘That one girl’s life might be ruined after all that!’

Chilling echoes: The teammates' April tweets are horribly reminiscent of those exposed in the first rape scandal in March

It wasn't rape they were just making love: Tweets of John Linn, left, prompted teammate Jake Howarth, right, to tell him to 'Stfu' (shut the f*** up)



Another tweet read simply: ‘First degree rape @luckyMcClurg134 lmao.’

In reponse to Linn’s tweet: ‘It wasn’t rape they were just making love!!’ Howarth urged: ‘Stfu (shut the f*** up) seriously.’

MailOnline was the first to report the existence of a second victim. She was just 14 at the time of the alleged assault which took place at a Prom party understood to have been held at Big Red Coach Joe Pierro’s home.



A good party: Tweets sent in April clearly show the 'crazy time' they had

The girl filed a report with Steubenville City Police last September and the case was handed over to Federal Agents. The investigation remains open .

She told of a night in which she drank from a red solo cup and became intoxicated to such an extent she was unable to prevent the alleged assault from taking place.

One law enforcement official described the account as ‘strikingly similar’ to the high profile Steubenville rape.

I didn't do it!!!!: Charlie Keenan, son of Steubenville prosecutor Jane Hanlin, tweets his innocence in a stream of messages as Big Red athletes discuss what did - and didn't - happen on that April night

Protestations of innocence: Charlie Keenan, left, accused other guys of 'lying so bad' about what happened that night while Matt Petrella, right, dismissed the 'fake stuff' going round

Similarly the tone and content of the April tweets are disturbingly close to those four months later, when Mays and Richmond’s 16-year-old victim was described as ‘sloppy’ and a ‘whore.’



Trial by social media: The messages over Twitter, Instagram and text that were exchanged on the night of the rape and the following day were central to the case - and to the outrage it has caused nationwide

One of the April tweets refers to a situation as ‘messier than that chick who got trained’s (sic) vagina.’

Evan Westlake was present for much of the Mays and Richmond rape and though he admitted to videoing it he was granted immunity in return for testifying in the first trial.

Face of the first scandal: Michael Nodianos, infamous for his video on the night of the first rape, once again makes light of an alleged sexual assault

Shamed: Michael Nodianos lost his place at Ohio State University for his offensive diatribe in posted on Youtube in which he described the rape victim as 'so dead' - but he appears to then compare that rape to an earlier assault

He is among the tweeters who commented on the April incident. In one tweet he noted: ‘If this was the 70s no one would care how many people were involved.’

But another, unidentified, member of their circle using the screen name Kobe Bryant threatened: 'If my name gets dragged into anything I'll be so pissed.'



Fast forward to four months later when members of the ‘Rape Crew’ were filmed crowing about the August rape on the night it took place.

Appalling footage of Michael Nodianos describing the 16-year-old as ‘f***ing deader than JFK’ and giggling hysterically in a vile monologue was posted on Youtube.

Among a diatribe of abuse he said: ‘They raped her harder than that cop raped Marcellus Wallace on Pulp Fiction.’ The film caused such outrage that Nodianos was expelled from Ohio State University and forced to make a grovelling public apology.



Now the footage in which he condemned himself and his friends, may yet play a part in the investigation into the April attack.

Still buzzing: One girl's life 'might be ruined' according to John Linn's tweets - 'What a great night!!!'

Strikingly similiar: the tweets from April 2012 echo those that contributed to the evidence against Trent Mays and Ma'lik Richmond when they came to trial in March

Just under seven minutes into his rant Nodianos can be clearly heard comparing the August rape to another incident.

He said: ‘You thought it was bad when that girl got raped at Palooza . This is worse. This is a dead body.’

Palooza is the local nickname for Coach Joe Pierro’s house. He was out of town when the April party at which the alleged rape took place was held.

Guilty verdict: Ma'lik Richmond (pictured right) reacts after learning the verdict in his trial at the juvenile court in Steubenville, Ohio, March 17

Moment of truth: Trent Mays on the day he and friend Ma'lik Richmond were convicted of raping, degrading and humiliating their 16-year-old victim. Mays could be free next year

No charges have yet been brought but this second alleged rape has fallen under the intense scrutiny of the grand jury convened in the aftermath of Mays’s and Richmond’s conviction.

Amid rumours of institutional cover-up and a widespread loss of faith in the legal system Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine convened the grand jury which first met in April.



It was to be a ‘tool of investigation’ he said seeking out all who could be held accountable for obstructing the legal process that ultimately brought Richmond and Mays to trial and for allowing the harassment of the victim to carry on unchecked.

Mr DeWine vowed that the grand jury would ‘follow the evidence’ wherever it took them. Two of the City officials indicted as a result of the grand jury’s investigations are facing charges relating to this first alleged rape.

Steubenville City Schools Superintendent, Michael McVey, is facing three felony counts and two misdemeanours for tampering with evidence, obstructing justice, falsification and obstructing official business. All encompass acts alleged to have been carried out ‘on or about April 5 2012.’

Elementary School Principal Lynnett Gorman, wife of Steubenville High School Vice Principal Ted Gorman, faces a charge of failing to immediately report child abuse or neglect ‘on or about April 12, 2012,’ when she had ‘reasonable cause to suspect based on facts that would cause a reasonable person in a similar position to suspect,’ that such abuse had taken place to a child under the age of 18.

The tweets seen by MailOnline date between 8th and 10th April 2012.

Following the evidence: Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine, left, announces the indictments that resulted from the grand jury's investigatins. Among them was Steubenvilled City Schools Superintendent, Mike McVey, right



Speaking out after during the trial in March, Steubenville police chief William McCafferty admitted, ‘The thing I found most disturbing about this is that there were other people around when this was going on. Nobody had the morals to say, “Hey, stop it, that isn’t right.”’

That culpability, according to Mr DeWine, extended not only to the perpetrators on the night but to the adults and officials who stood idly by as the rape victim was picked apart online and through social media, and chatter found its way from the internet into the halls and classrooms of Steubenville High School.

Speaking to MailOnline Attorney Bob Fitzsimmons who represented the first victim and is now attorney to the second said he could not comment on the particulars of the case, but welcomed the indictments relating to it.

He said: ‘I’m not surprised at all at the individuals or the charges brought against them by the grand jury.’

He would not be drawn on whether or not he hoped or expected investigations into the April incident to lead to prosecutions but he noted: ‘Criminal charges are not pursued by families or individuals so even if you have a reluctant witness the state has the right to pursue if they see fit.’

He added that those granted immunity at the earlier trial had no guarantee of that same privilege in any other proceedings.