Frantic phone calls lead cops to scene of alleged rape

16-year-old girl pleads to Petah Tikva police for help, claiming married man raped her in motel room.

By YAAKOV LAPPIN
Police arrested a 35-year-old man in a Petah Tikva motel last week on suspicion of kidnapping, beating and brutally raping a 16-year-old girl.
The victim and the suspect, named as Lior Yona, became acquainted several weeks ago when the girl, seeking a cleaning job, began working with the suspect, who refurbishes homes for a living.
Yona, married with children, offered to arrange cleaning jobs for the girl in homes he had worked on.
Police say that after working together twice, Yona contacted the girl on Wednesday night and asked to meet her to discuss future working arrangements. The girl, accompanied by a 16-year-old friend, was picked up by Yona in his vehicle that same night, police say.
After driving around Petah Tikva, the suspect allegedly pulled up outside the friend’s home, and ordered her to leave the vehicle, saying he wanted to be alone with the girl. The friend reportedly demanded that the girl join her in leaving the vehicle, prompting the suspect to exit his car and forcefully remove the friend.
He then drove away with the victim, who police say was drunk.
The friend contacted police to report a kidnapping. Soon afterward, shebegan receiving frantic telephone calls from the victim pleading forhelp, and reported them to police. In the calls, the victim describedbeing raped in a motel room that had a jacuzzi.
Police traced the calls to an industrial area in Petah Tikva and began searching motels for the suspect’s car.
The vehicle was identified, and within 40 minutes of being called aboutthe alleged kidnapping, “officers burst into the motel room,discovering a bruised, naked, crying teenage girl lying on a bed, andthe rape suspect, drunk, lying next to her,” a police spokesman said. Abottle of vodka was also found in the room.
Police say the suspect violently raped and sodomized the teenager twice, banging her head against furniture in the process.
The suspect’s attorney said his client denied all charges. A Petah Tikva court extended Yona’s custody by four days on Thursday.