Maysen Melton, 16, was arraigned Wednesday on two dozen counts related to the rape of four of his classmates at Shadow Ridge High School in Las Vegas
A 16-year-old boy is being charged as an adult after prosecutors say he violently raped three of his classmates over a single year.
Maysen Melton, 16, was arraigned in Las Vegas court on Wednesday, on more than two dozen counts including sexual assault, kidnapping and child pornography.
If convicted, he faces the possibility of spending the rest of his life in prison.
Prosecutors say that last year, the teen raped four classmates at Shadow Ridge High School, between the ages of 15 and 18. The abuse allegedly ended in March 2017, and Melton was arrested two months later, according to the Las Vegas Review-Journal.
Chief Deputy District Attorney Kristina Rhoades says that Melton knew each of his victims, and that he targeted them both on school grounds and at his father’s house, when his dad was away.
She says the victims suffered ‘violent rapes’.
Despite being a minor, Melton (left and right) is being charged as an adult because he has already gone through the juvenile sex offender program for an earlier offense
In some cases, Melton took nude photos of his victims and then threatened them if they refused to send more.
‘At least two girls contemplated suicide based on what he told them,’ Rhoades said.
While minors are usually tried in juvenile court, Melton is being charged as an adult because this isn’t the first time he has been arrested for sex crimes. …..Read more: