OAKLAND — A 22-year-old man is facing charges that he raped a 16-year-old girl after she contacted him for a cellphone charger, court records show.
The crime was reported to Oakland police in two stages. First, the girl’s mother called authorities to report her daughter missing, and while an officer was taking the mother’s report, the girl texted her mom that she’d been sexually assaulted and needed help, according to court records.
Now, 22-year-old Oakland resident Eric Eugene Conley Jr. has been charged with rape, forcible oral copulation, forcible sodomy and unlawful sexual intercourse with a minor, according to court records. He pleaded not guilty on Nov. 4 and is set to have a bail hearing on Nov. 19, records show.
The alleged sexual assault was reported in April 2023, but charges weren’t filed until this year. They’re based on the girl identifying Conley from a photograph and a DNA hit from a rape test kit, according to court records.
The girl told police she knew Conley from social media and contacted him for a phone charger because her cellphone was running out of battery. When he arrived in a vehicle he convinced her to get in the car with him and they drove off to another part of Oakland, authorities said.
On the way, the girl reportedly told authorities that she was scared for her well-being and thought about children who get kidnapped and are never heard from again, but was too scared to vocalize any of her feelings. When they got to their destination, Conley allegedly sexually assaulted her and placed a pillow over her face to muffle her cries.
Conley was arrested last March in connection with a freeway shooting on Interstate 580. In that case, police identified him as an East Bay gang member, according to media reports.