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Man, one victim's mom are convicted in Santeria rape case
It took just two hours of deliberation for a Common Pleas jury to find Hector Ayala, 59, guilty of sexually assaulting three teenage girls, one of them repeatedly for more than six years from the time she was 9 years old.
The verdict came after nearly three weeks of testimony, in which jurors heard the disturbing details of how Ayala misled three girls into having sex with him by threatening them with talk of Santeria curses and bad Tarot-card readings.
The jury also found the 41-year-old mother of one of the girls guilty of criminal conspiracy and other charges for convincing her daughter that sex with Ayala would help lift a curse off the family.
The daughter testified at trial that Ayala performed oral sex on her while her mother held her hand.
Ayala sat silent and emotionless as the jury foreman announced one after another guilty verdict for rape, aggravated sexual assault and several other charges.
The girls, their families and several jurors, however, wiped away tears as the verdict was read.
Following the jury's decision, Judge Gwendolyn Bright revoked Ayala's bail and he was taken into custody.
Ayala will likely spend the rest of his life behind bars, Assistant District Attorney Leslie Gomez said.
"I'm very heartened that the jury heard these girls and understood the trauma they went through," Gomez said following the verdict.
Ayala's attorney Michael Medway seemed somewhat surprised at the brief time period in which the verdict was reached and said that he disagreed with the jury's conclusion.
Gomez attributed the jury's quick decision to evidence she called "overwhelming." She said that the jury had "no choice" but to convict Ayala and the 41-year-old woman, whose name is being withheld to protect her daughter's identity.
That girl, now 16, wept quietly as the verdict against her mother was read. Her father put his arm around her to console her.
In her testimony the girl said numerous times that she wanted nothing more than to be with her mother.
"I still love her with all of my heart," the girl said during her third day on the witness stand. "I don't think she did this to hurt me."
The girl's mother is under house arrest until she and Ayala are sentenced on Oct. 16. Gomez said the mother faces 16 to 32 years in prison.
The girls' tears during the polling of the jurors showed a different side of the girls, who rarely let out any emotion during their testimonies.
Once outside the courtroom their sobs were no longer silent as they hugged each other.
"We did it," one of the girls said as tears streamed down her face.
"It's been real bad for her," said the father of the girl whose mother was convicted. "Maybe we can make a new life now."
"I'm very happy," the father of another victim said before noting that his daughter still faces a long road of therapy to put the ordeal behind her. *
