Queens Couple Charged With Assaulting MySpace Minors

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."

Contact the author of this article or email tips@gothamist.com with further questions, comments or tips.

By Jen Chung in News on January 15, 2008 9:36 AM

Comments [rss]

kenny

This "Wild Apache, the Savage" guy sounds like one lewd dude. Everything about him...his aura...his stage name...his job/lifestyle...his alleged deeds...is absolutely lurid.

And Sophie Soto is no better. Who would marry someone like "Wild Apache, the Savage"?

Perverted! Sick!

Streamwise

>They met up for drinks and sex in the apartment twice more in >February - once with a third underage girl - and again in March, >April and May, prosecutors said

The abuse was so bad that they went back 5 times for some action! Ummm, yeah, whatever, legal consent, blah, blah, blah....

jibbly

His new friends in prison will call him "fish".

Bon voyage you sickos.

GUINEAPIG

Boring article - too jaded perhaps?

zodak

Queens DA notes that the teens were abused by the couple in February and March 2007

This makes little sense. After one is abused the first time; how do they end up going back to hang out with these people??

i was thinking the same thing moocowtoo, sounds like they regretted what they did after the 3rd time & decided to claim abuse.

rubyredhead: virgil handed you your ass & you posted another mistake-filled comment. you have no right to criticize anyone grammar. just stfu.

JenChungsBaby

The only name this guy's going to have to worry about fitting anywhere for many years will be the number he's given at the prison he's going to.

rubyredhead

thank you virgil. i can still feel the spank of your hand on my ass. IM NOT an editor and i dont publish articles on the internet, leaving me free of journalistic responsibilities that jen chung repeatedly disregards.

xx

bornbrednewyorker

Cut off their genitals and lock them up for life.

Snoopy

He looks too buff. Do you think he uses roids?

She's a stripper? Kind of chunky for a stripper isn't she?

Rocknrope

His friends call him 'Pache.

tien

seriously, "wild apache, the savage" is an insane name. how are they supposed to fit that on a marquee? or on a dvd box? not that he'll be staring in either anytime soon.

emilydickinson

@SMH: I'm imagining that Spongebob corset is not licensed by the Spongebob Corporate HQ. However, I have seen a Hello Kitty vibrator, so maybe I'm incorrect.

virgil

Is "Wild Apache, the Savage" his full, proper stage name? Holy cow.

I mean, it's a horrible story, but come on. What a name.

JRod5417

Hands-down the most lurid story in 2008. Oh wait, its only January 15.

As to CR's innocent question, sex in strip clubs is not a new phenomenom. Some strip joints are mere brothels and subject to many undercover investigations. The Sean Bell shooting debacle is a shining example of just one of those investigations gone terribly wrong.

virgil

(Oops, I shouldn't have punctuated my bullet points.)

virgil

rubyredhead;

pointing out mistakes can be helpful, but that extra side of snide you included compels me to point out your own mistakes, including:

--neglecting to capitalize the words "typical", "Jen" and "Chung"

--using grammar (noun) as an adverb

--the awkward syntax of your final clause.

--using "authored" when "written" will suffice.

Okay, you're free to go.

moocowtoo

>Queens DA notes that the teens were abused by the couple in February and March 2007

This makes little sense. After one is abused the first time; how do they end up going back to hang out with these people??

smh

Where could a person, hypothetically, get Sponge Bob lingerie? I have a friend who wants to know.

It's not for myself or anything like that.

I'm not a weirdo.

chuzzlewit

Conan and Red Sonja are two adults definitely not allowed in the kiddie pool.

Gregoire

Oh my, what will American Gladiators do without its two biggest stars?

rubyredhead

i can always tell when jen chung has authored the article. typical grammar errors she refuses to fix or have checked.

CR

I was under the impression that sexual acts in a strip-club were a no-no. I mean, the girls can get naked - but sex is off limits in the "public" areas... am I wrong?