Orange Walk man arrested for weekend rape

A young woman has reported being raped and assaulted after she and a friend accepted a ride on Sunday morning. Orange Walk police say a nineteen year old woman and her friend were walking in the rain on the Northern Highway around three a.m. on July fourth when twenty-two year old Lance Pelayo and three male friends offered them a ride in his pickup truck. Pelayo allegedly took the girls to an area on the Yo Creek Road and then pulled the nineteen year old out of the truck and raped her while her friend ran off into the bushes. One of Pelayo’s friends then reportedly indecently assaulted the victim and tried to kiss her. She bit him on the mouth and he hit her several times. The men then left the wounded girl on the road and she crawled to a house to seek help. Pelayo was arrested this morning and will be charged with rape and wounding. His unidentified accomplices are still at large.