Published: May 31, 2008 12:55 am      

New Albany woman reports rape in Clarksville

Editor’s note: This incident happened in the early-morning hours of May 24 in Clarksville. A representative of The Evening News and The Tribune visited the Clarksville Police Department at 11 a.m. Tuesday to pick up police reports. This report was not ready at the time. Reports were again collected Friday and the rape incident report appeared. The newspaper has not been contacted by Clarksville authorities about the incident.



Staff from Clark Memorial Hospital in Jeffersonville reported to police that a New Albany woman was raped last weekend in Clarksville.

A woman told the Clarksville Police Department that multiple men raped her at an apartment along Green Tree Boulevard in Clarksville, according to a police report.

The woman said she was at Jersey’s Cafe on May 23 when she was asked for a ride home by two Hispanic men who said they knew her nephew. She then drove them to their apartment and said she took a sip of beer that made her lips go numb, the report says.

The suspects allegedly started speaking in Spanish, got on top of her after pulling her onto a couch, where she said she tried to fight them off.

The woman then fled the apartment and went to her mother’s house, where she explained the incident. Police went to the crime scene, where several opened beer bottles were found, along with a condom wrapper, the report says.

Evidence from the woman being at the scene was collected and one of the suspects denied her being there. Several other people were found inside the apartment and the police report lists four men as suspects: Edgar Bolanos, Edwardo Bolanos, Fermin Garcia and Paulino Morales, all of Clarksville.

Editors at The Evening News and The Tribune became aware of the report Friday afternoon. A call was placed to CPD Chief Dwight Ingle, but someone answering the phone at the station said he had left for the day.

A call to his cell phone was not returned as of press time.

Anyone with information about this crime should call the department 812-288-7151.

In February, Clarksville police were publicly criticized by some town residents after a rape report from December was not publicized.

The crime in question allegedly occurred on a playground outside of Parkwood Elementary School on Dec. 14. Five teenagers are accused of raping, beating and robbing a 16-year-old girl.

Criticism resulted in a verbal confrontation in front of the Clarksville Town Council on February 26.

Ingle defended the department’s actions at the meeting, saying that the force did it’s job “professionally, to the letter of the law.”

No public action was taken by the Council or the Department after the concerns were aired.