ALFRED (AP) – A third man has pleaded innocent in connection with the rape of a Gorham teenager last December in Old Orchard Beach.
Okey Chukwurah, 57, appeared in York County Superior Court Tuesday following his indictment last month on charges of gross sexual assault and sexual abuse of a minor.
He was arrested Monday at the same Old Orchard Beach motel where he lived last winter while working in Portland.
Neal Weinstein, Chukwurah’s attorney, said his client was released on $1,000 bail following arraignment.
Chukwurah, who has been living with family members in Texas, is allowed to leave Maine but must call both his attorney and Old Orchard Beach Police each week, Weinstein said.
Chukwurah has agreed to DNA testing, and Weinstein said the tests will prove his innocence.
Chukwurah is accused of raping the 14-year-old girl on Dec. 20, 2002. The girl, who is said to have the mental capacity of a younger child, was dropped off in Old Orchard Beach after she disappeared from a South Portland shopping center.
Authorities say she encountered a group of men in a parking lot and was brought to Chukwurah’s motel room, where the sexual assault allegedly took place.
Two other men, Kingsley Nwaturocha and Dan Eneagu, have also been charged with rape and sexual abuse of a minor in connection with the case. Both remain in jail.
AP-ES-05-07-03 1451EDT
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