Fourth suspect sought in New Orleans rape probe after three U.S. Marines arrested

[April 30, 2018]  (Reuters) - Police in New Orleans have obtained an arrest warrant for a fourth suspect wanted in connection with a gang rape investigation following the arrest of three U.S. Marines charged in the case, authorities said on Saturday.

Two women, a Tulane University student and her friend, reported that they were raped by four men earlier this month at an off-campus home in New Orleans after a night out, according to the Times-Picayune newspaper.

The two women left a bar with one man and went to the house on April 15, the newspaper reported. Once there, the man, police identified as Antonio Landrum, 18, invited three other men to the residence.

The women claim that all four men sexually assualted them, police said.

Three of the men are Marines and were arrested Thursday and Friday, officials said. Arrested were Landrum, a Private First Class, who is charged with third-degree rape; Lance Corporal Jared Anderson, 18, booked on first-degree rape; and Lance Corporal Alexander Davenport, 20, booked on two counts of first-degree rape, officials said.

The three men arrested are stationed at the Marine Corps Support Facility just outside New Orleans in Algiers, Louisiana, Marine officials said.

New Orleans police spokesman Gary Scheets said that the three suspects were turned over to police by the Marines, but he declined to provide other details of the case.

Police said Saturday that an arrest warrant has been issued for a fourth suspect, identified as Matthew Farrell, 22, who remains at large on a charge of aggravated rape.

It was not immediately known whether the fourth suspect was also a Marine.

(By Steve Gorman in Los Angeles and Rich McKay in Atlanta; Editing by Elaine Hardcastle)

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