Salem High students accused of gang raping Lynn teen free on $10K bail

SALEM – Four Salem High students accused of gang-raping a 17-year-old girl at a Lynn apartment on Summer Street in February remain free on bail, but were ordered to have no contact directly or indirectly with their accuser.Harold Baltodano, 18, of 55 Baltimore St., #2, Lynn, Brito Rafael Nina, 18, of 6 Laurent St., Salem, Luis Arias, 18, of 38 Salem St., Apt. 4, Salem, and Justin Louf, 17, of 99 Lawrence St., Apt. 2., Salem, appeared Thursday morning in Salem Superior Court for their arraignment, pleading innocent to a charge of aggravated rape before Judge David A. Lowy.Lowy agreed to set the same bail amounts as previously established at the joint recommendation of the prosecutor and defense attorneys.Baltodano, Arias and Louf are freed each on $10,000 cash while Brito is out on $8,000 pending the outcome of their trials.The judge ordered the teens to have no contact with the victim while the case is pending, warning them if they violate the terms of their release their bail would be revoked and they would be held without bail until their trial.Charges stem from an incident in Lynn on the night of Feb. 15 when the victim, a 17-year-old Salem girl, and her friend attended a basketball game at Lynn English High School. Afterwards they went over to her friend’s house. Then the victim called several friends trying to get a ride home, eventually calling Baltodano, an acquaintance, who arrived in a vehicle with the three other suspects. As they were driving around, they all partook in drinking rum and smoked marijuana.Assistant District Attorney Jessica P. Connors maintains that instead of taking the girl home, Arias, the apparent driver of the vehicle, drove to apartment 381-R Summer St., the reported home of Brito’s mother, where they all went inside the apartment and gang-raped the victim while calling her derogatory names.After the assault, they drove her back to her friend’s house in Lynn where she fell asleep.When she awoke that next morning, she noticed blood on her clothes and body and called another friend who immediately picked her up and drove her to a local hospital where doctors performed a rape kit.They are all due back in court on May 28 for a pretrial conference.They face up to 20 years in state prison, if convicted on the charge.