Aiken County authorities have released the mugshot after charging the second teen connected to the rapes of two girls at a summer underage drinking party in Jackson.
Shawn Neal Jr., 17, of Riverside Plantation Road, Jackson, was charged last Monday as an adult with criminal sexual conduct for allegedly raping a 17-year-old girl, authorities said.
A second teen, 17-year-old Jahden Lewis, turned himself in Thursday on accusations of raping a 14-year-old girl at the same time in the same living room. He is from North Augusta and is charged as an adult with criminal sexual conduct with a minor in the second degree. (Someone speaking for Jahden sent us an email, saying Jahden claims to be innocent and has evidence the girls concocted the story. More on that below.)
The allegations of the sex crimes are horrible. A sheriff’s report says a 16-year-old girl allowed the suspects and victims to come over to her house on a Saturday afternoon in July when her parents were out of town. The victims said they started drinking alcohol.
One of the victims passed out and the 16-year-old host went to another room to talk on the phone. The second female victim said she left the living room but returned to find one of the suspects on top of her friend, having sex. That second victim told investigators that she was then pushed down on the couch by the other boy and raped.
“She stated she told him to stop but he wouldn’t,” a report says.
The party host heard someone screaming and came out of her room. When she heard a loud pounding, she realized what was going on and eventually pushed the males away and got them to stop.
“Both (suspects) left out the door, saying ‘They both wanted it,’” the sheriff’s report says.
Both girls were later given sexual assault kits at Aiken Regional Medical Centers, where they surrendered their clothes as evidence. An investigation led to the warrants.
A man named Eric Lewis sent an email to The Jail Report, claiming that Jahden spoke with and recorded a short conversation he had with the girl who lived at the house, saying that she and the other girl were just going along with what one of the other girls said.
“You can hear the female saying that she doesn’t want to get in trouble for lying and that she can’t tell anyone anything because her parents have her locked down,” Eric Lewis wrote. “We plan on getting an attorney to gather all of the evidence and statements so we will know how best to move forward.”
Eric Lewis claims “the rape story was concocted later after one of the girl’s parents found out and threatened to out her to her fiancé.”
“We have seen the comments on Shawn’s page. so we know the court of public opinion has already made their decision in the matter, but Jahden is confident that once the rape kits come back it will clear him. He is also hoping that someone from the group will step up publicly and admit what really happened. Only time will tell,” Eric Lewis wrote.
Meanwhile, sheriff’s Capt. Eric Abdullah said his agency would not have filed the sex charges without evidence.
