Charges Dropped in Nationally Polarizing Framingham Rape Case

By Mike Carraggi and Alex Newman

FRAMINGHAM, MA — In a case that fueled heated debate reaching far beyond the borders of New England's largest town, rape and related charges against four undocumented immigrants were dropped Thursday after the man and woman who had said they were attacked refused to testify.

The alleged victims told prosecutor Joseph Gentile that providing details of the attack — if such an attack ever happened — would violate their 5th Amendment rights because it could incriminate them, the MetroWest Daily News reported.

• SEE: Framingham Rape Case Becomes Fodder for Immigration Debate

The decision to drop the charges was announced Thursday afternoon at Framingham District Court.

Prosecutors said they had issues with the victims' statement.

As details emerged about the four men accused, all from Guatemala, much scrutiny was placed on the country's immigration policies among those who consider the system broken. Two of the men had previously been deported for past crimes.

They were accused of cornering a woman and her boyfriend on Claflin Street as they enjoyed an evening out in town on March 13. The boyfriend told the Boston Herald the four men surrounded him and his girlfriend after one man offered them a beer.

According to the Herald, police said one of the suspects held up a condom and indicated that he wanted the man's girlfriend. Three of them then dragged the woman to an apartment on the corner of the street while the largest of the four kept the boyfriend at bay.

Police said at the time that the three men then attempted to blockade the door with a dresser and started climbing on top of the woman and groping her, the Herald reported. Elmer Diaz also reportedly reached into the woman's pants and digitally penetrated her while holding a pen knife, the Metro West Daily News reported.

The boyfriend eventually forced his way into the apartment, fighting off the attackers to help his girlfriend escape, police said at the time. He was also injured during the assault.

Police quickly responded and arrested the four men. They found the boyfriend’s missing cellphone and clothing the woman said the men who attacked her were wearing in the apartment where two of the suspects reside.

Elmer Diaz, 19, was charged with rape, assault with a dangerous weapon, kidnapping and threatening to commit a crime; his brother, Ariel Diaz, 24, faced charges of unarmed robbery, assault and battery with a dangerous weapon, indecent assault and battery, kidnapping and witness intimidation; a third Diaz brother, 32-year-old Adan, and Marlon Josue Jarquin-Felipe, 27, were charged with indecent assault and battery and kidnapping stemming from last week's alleged assault.