14-year-old boy charged with raping high school classmate in school stairwell

Khymani Tolbert faces 3 counts of criminal sexual conduct

WARREN, Mich. – A 14-year-old boy is charged with raping a classmate inside Lincoln High School in Warren.

The teenager is being charged as an adult on three counts of criminal sexual conduct.

Police said Khymani Jamal Tolbert raped a 14-year-old freshman girl in a school stairwell. The incident is alleged to have happened Nov. 28.

Warren Police Commissioner Bill Dwyer said the case sent an emotional shock wave through his department because of the sheer brutality involved.

"This is probably the saddest, most vicious case I've seen," Dwyer said. "The most violent case I've seen -- that brutal, as far as heinous, monstrous."

Dwyer said Tolbert, of Warren, hung around the Lincoln High School stairwell after school on Nov. 28, waiting for a victim.

"A 14-year-old victim who for the rest of her life is going to be traumatized," Dwyer said.

Tolbert's victim tried mightily to escape his advances, Dwyer said.

"She fought off the attack for 20 minutes," Dwyer said.

Police said there are 50 video security cameras inside the school, and more than one recorded the attack.

"I mean, I can't describe the feelings we have for this victim and family enough, as far as our sorrow goes out, our support goes out to the family," Dwyer said.

Van Dyke Schools Superintendent Piper Bognar released a statement, saying: "We are horrified and saddened by this situation ... We are doing all we can for the victim and the family. The school personnel responded swiftly, and we are continuing to work with the Warren Police Department and related law enforcement authorities."

"When he goes to prison, and I hope he goes to prison for life, because he deserves life for what he did to her, to this 14-year-old victim," Dwyer said.

Tolbert is being held in jail without bail. In addition to the three counts of first-degree criminal sexual conduct, he also faces one count of unlawful imprisonment.

Dwyer said it's possible Tolbert has attacked someone before, and he's asking anyone who knows about any previous attacks to call his department at 586-574-4800.


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