Sex offenders charged with rape of 2 teen girls in San Diego area 'homeless motel'

Last week, the law enforcement arrested two California sex offenders after they confessed to raping an underage girl and recording part of it on video. They also claimed to have attacked other girls in the Motel 6 bedroom one of the suspects is staying in as part of a homeless voucher program.

Lawrence "Larry" Cantrell, 34, and Michael Inman, 70, are accused of raping an underage teenage girl in Cantrell's Motel 6 bedroom earlier this month.



According to Fox News, People Assisting The Homeless (PATH) a service provider for the homeless in San Diego placed both men into housing. According to the police, PATH placed Cantrell in the El Cajon Motel 6 about five to six days before the crime but prior to that, he was kicked out of another hotel voucher program due to an "altercation."

Police said that a PATH employee called police to report Cantrell's "suspicious behavior" and then Cantrell allegedly admitted to child molestation. He also told law enforcement that he had a video of the incident on his phone.

Using the information from Cantrell, police arrested Inman at a Days Inn in San Diego. He confessed that he knew the girl was underage and that he and Cantrell had victimized at least two other girls in the city over the previous week. Bill Wells, the El Cajon mayor told the outlet that two of the girls are believed to be as young as 13.

Wells added that another voucher recipient was arrested after running from police and tossing a bag of meth. According to the authorities, the suspected drug dealer had previously been paying his own rent before a county-aligned contractor offered to enroll him in the voucher program for 18 months.

City officials told Fox that nonprofit groups used the voucher program to place area homeless in hotels, half of them in El Cajon. The city had asked the county for help getting encampments off the streets and was unaware the same campers, plus many others from the county, were being placed in hotels in the El Cajon. The city has the most hotels and motels participating in voucher programs in the entire county.

According to Wells, the voucher program has led to as many as 50 percent of the homeless voucher recipients being placed in El Cajon hotels, but the city accounts for only 3 percent of the county's population. Wells told Fox, "I am 100 percent sure they're punishing us for being conservative."
 

Both men are registered sex offenders. Inman has a criminal history of sex offenses dating back to 1978 and both were recently released from prison according to CBS 8.

Inman is facing felony counts of sexual penetration by a foreign object, oral copulation of a minor, possession of child pornography, as well as employment of a minor to perform prohibited acts and is facing up to 56 years to life in prison if convicted.

Cantrell is charged with oral copulation of a minor, unlawful sexual intercourse with a minor, possession of child pornography, and methamphetamine possession. He faces up to eight years in prison if convicted. Both men were ordered held without bail in a San Diego jail following las week's court appearance.

Both men have pleaded not guilty.