MILWAUKEE — Two more people were charged Friday in the case of an 11-year-old girl who authorities say had sex with as many as 20 people as a 16-year-old girl coached her.
Freeman Gurley, 40, the 16-year-old’s uncle, and Darnell Chaney, 17, were charged with two counts of first-degree sexual assault of a child.
The 16-year-old girl and a 15-year-old boy also have been charged in juvenile court with being a party to sexual assault of a child. A police spokeswoman said they were still seeking five others in the case.
Also on Friday, Alderman Mike McGee Jr. said he met with the girl, whom he described as distraught. He said she has been infected with HIV since birth and that her mother died of AIDS. “You can’t expect her to be doing well,” he said.
The likelihood of someone spreading the AIDS virus through a single sex act is not well known. A key factor is how much virus is in the infected person’s blood, according to Johns Hopkins University researchers who have studied the topic. Treatment with AIDS drugs greatly reduces the amount of virus in the blood.
The 11-year-old girl told police she was interested in the teenage girl, who looked and dressed like a boy, authorities said in court records.
According to the complaint filed in adult court against Gurley and Chaney, the 11-year-old said the 16-year-old told her she should perform various sex acts on a number of young men at the teen’s house and she agreed. Milwaukee Alderman Mike McGee Jr.: Communities and parents must take more active role in children’s lives (MP3) She was in a bedroom and began performing sex acts on a number of males, the complaint said. When Gurley came home from work the teenage girl encouraged the 11-year-old to have sex with him. Initially, the 11-year-old refused but then gave in.
Gurley admitted he had unprotected intercourse with the girl on the bed, the complaint said. In the juvenile court documents, Gurley said his niece coached the 11-year-old.
Chaney admitted the girl performed oral sex on him. He also told police the 16-year-old was directing the 11-year-old girl, the complaint said.
The public defender’s office said no attorneys had been assigned to Gurley and Chaney as of Friday.
According to court records from the juvenile court case, the 11-year-old told police after the incident in the bedroom she went to the basement, where there were about 15 males and “began to choose who she wanted to perform oral sex on.”
The 16-year-old denied encouraging her, court records said.
No child can give legal consent for sex, District Attorney E. Michael McCann said Friday.
“Whether the 11-year-old child consented or not is utterly irrelevant,” he said.