3 charged in spring break rape

MIAMI BEACH, Fla. (WSVN) -- A young woman is speaking out for the first time after she was brutally raped in a South Florida hotel room during spring break.

A 21-year-old college student has nothing but hellacious memories of what was supposed to be her dream spring break vacation in Miami.

According to the victim, she and her friends were at the Shelborne Hotel on Miami Beach enjoying a pool party, when three guys approached them. "I had been at the pool party at the Shelborne that day, and we met this group of guys. It was me and my girlfriends," she said. "They seemed nice enough, and we had needed a place to put our purses. There were a lot of people at the party, and we didn't want to put our purses down."

The victim said the trio told her they had a room at the Fontainebleau Hotel, where the victim and her friends could leave their purses.

The 21-year-old, who is studying criminology, said the horror then began. "They were kind of taking turns on me, and somebody let my leg go, and I kicked him in the chest, and he backed up, and the other guy let go of my arm and they all started laughing at me," she said, "And I grabbed all my stuff and ran into the elevator, and there were two girls in there and they asked me if I was OK, and I was already crying and everything. They took me to the front desk."

Once inside the room, the alleged victim said the men held her down. "I tried to close my eyes. I tried fighting them. It wasn't working. I tried fighting them. It wasn't working. They kept laughing at me," she said.

Twenty-two-year-old Paul Thorington, 23-year-old Anthony Albano and 23-year-old Ray Joseph Laranjo, all of California, were arrested. The three men appeared before a judge, Friday.

The victim said the suspects should have known better. "I mean honestly, they should have known better. I don't know where they came from or who they think they are," she said.

According to the victim, she chose to speak out because she wants justice and does not want anyone to experience what she went through. "You can't trust anyone, no matter how nice they are. I am usually not very trusting, but you think everybody's nice, and I give everybody the benefit of the doubt," said the victim.

Thorington, Albano and Laranjo have been denied bond and will remain in jail with serious charges.

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