Complaint: 4 men face charges in repeated rape of missing teen at Madison apartment

PD: Facebook video shows teen during assault

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Lashaun D. Cole, Semaj Pruitt, Sean Reason, Kashawn Redus









Four men were charged in Dane County court Friday, accused of repeatedly raping a 16-year-old girl in a Madison apartment in January, officials said.

Madison police said 25-year-old Sean K. Reason faces multiple felony charges in connection with the case of a 16-year-old girl who told police Reason and other men assaulted her multiple times in an apartment in the 1100 block of Moorland Road.

According to the criminal complaint, the 16-year-old girl at one point told police she had consensual sex with 10 men on Jan. 25 in a home she described as a “gang house” and a “trap house.” She told police the incident was a gang initiation ritual that lasted between one to two hours.

However, the girl told two social workers and a Sun Prairie officer that she was gang raped, and that she didn’t want to have sex with the men. She also said she was experiencing vaginal pain, and that she had been slapped at one point because she didn’t want to perform oral sex. She said the men were armed during the time she was in the apartment, and that she didn’t feel free to leave or decline sex with people who were arriving at the apartment.

The 16-year-old was reported missing and considered endangered on Jan. 21. She was found in Sun Prairie on Jan. 27, police said.

The girl was brought to the apartment by 20-year-old Leshaun D. Cole, of Sun Prairie, according to the complaint. He had sex with the teen, police said. The girl told police a number of men arrived after that and Cole told her to have sex with them.

The complaint said the man who owned the apartment was aware of the sexual assaults, and told police he heard Cole calling people and giving out his address, telling them they could come have sex with the girl.

Police also said the men filmed a video of themselves singing and brandishing weapons. A girl is seen in one part of the video, which was posted to Facebook, in distress and performing a sex act, according to the complaint. The teen told police it was her in the video.

Police also said the men photographed her naked and posted the pictures advertising sex with her on Backpage.com.

She told police that she didn’t use birth control and she might be pregnant. She told police she believed all the men involved were gang members.

Reason was charged with felony party to the crime of second-degree sexual assault, felony party to the crime of child sexual exploitation, felony party to the crime of exposing genitals to a child, felony party to the crime of armed robbery with use of force and party to the crime of sex with a child 16 years old or older. Reason was in court Friday, where a cash bond of $75,000 was signed. He was ordered not to have contact with the teen or the other three men facing charges in the incident. He was also ordered not to possess a weapon. A status conference is scheduled at 1:30 p.m.April 17.

Cole, 18-year-old Semaj O. Pruitt, of Madison, and 21-year-old Kashawn J. Redus, of Madison, each face charges of felony party to the crime of second-degree sexual assault, felony party to the crime child sexual exploitation by recording videos, felony repeat exposing genitals to a child, felony part to the crime of armed robbery with use of force and sex with a child 16 years old or older. According to court records, initial appearances for Cole, Pruitt and Redus were not yet set as of Friday.

Madison police said the investigation is ongoing and more arrests are likely.

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