Hollister teen charged as an adult in sexual assault case

A 17-year-old boy is now facing sexual assault charges after he allegedly raped a teenage girl in Hollister. Police believe he may have drugged the victim.

On Friday, NewsChannel 5 found out how your can protect your teens and be aware of the new tricks being used.

Detectives with the Hollister Police Department believe the victim was slipped some kind of drug. That hasn’t been confirmed yet. But what they do know is a teenage girl was sexually assaulted while at a party with friends.

Hollister Police arrested the 17-year-old on suspicion of rape and is being charged as an adult. Detective Chris Wells said it happened over Fourth of July weekend at a house party on main alley. He describes the victims account.

“She felt weakness, was in and out of consciences as she described, and recalls vomiting multiple times,” Wells said.

This led police to believe the girl was drugged and with school out, house parties and underage drinking are a big concern.

“Stay with friends. Never go by yourself. Don’t fall or the line of ‘hey let’s go talk outside,'” Wells said.

Police said the old cover your drink with a napkin is good. But it’s not perfect. What they’re seeing now is people injecting drugs inside of water bottles without opening the cap.

“What we ask people to do when you get a water bottle squeeze it. When you squeeze it there should be no water,” Capt. Carlos Reynoso.

Reynoso said if there’s just a small opening, you’ll see the water come out, meaning it may have been tampered with.

“Throw that water bottle away. Get another water bottle, make sure you squeeze it and it’s sealed before you drink it,” Reynoso said.

Police said they believe incidents like this happen a lot but go unreported because the victims might be embarrassed. But in this case, the victim did come forward and now the suspect is facing serious charges.