Cousins Lester Pettaway, Travon Pettaway charged in separate rapes of two 14-year-old girls in Southampton, cops say

Two cousins each face a statutory rape charge, accused in separate sex attacks on two 14-year-old girls they met online, a Southampton Village police investigator said Thursday.

Court records show Lester D. Pettaway, 22, of Southampton, was ordered remanded to Suffolk County jail Thursday, charged with second-degree rape and endangering the welfare of a child.

Southampton Village police arrested Pettaway's cousin, Travon E. Pettaway, 21, of Hampton Bays, on Monday, charging him with second-degree rape and endangering the welfare of a child -- charges stemming from a related incident that occurred at the same time as the first incident, but with a different victim, police said.

Travon Pettaway pleaded not guilty at his arraignment on Wednesday and was ordered held on $25,000 bond or $7,500 cash bail, according to court records. Records indicate he did not post bail and also was remanded to Suffolk jail.

Lester Pettaway is scheduled to next appear in court on Monday. Travon Pettaway is due back in court on Aug. 11.

Southampton Village police Det. Sgt. Herman Lamison said the attacks took place on the night of July 22 and morning of July 23 at a Southampton home.

He said the girls, whose identities are not being released because they are minors and are victims of an alleged sexual attack, knew each other -- and agreed to a meeting after initial contact through social media. He said the girls had not met the cousins before that night.

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Citing the continuing investigation, Lamison declined to release specifics of the initial meeting or the website used to initiate contact. He said that once the girls went to the home, owned by a Pettaway family member, they were pressured to have sex -- and Lamison said the two told the cousins, "No."

After the alleged rapes, Lamison said the girls fled the home and one called relatives, who picked them up and took them to Southampton Hospital. Authorities there reported the alleged attacks to police.

Lamison said investigators knew the identities of the alleged attackers hours after being notified by hospital officials on July 23.

The victims picked the cousins out of a lineup book and detectives developed computer records linking the suspects to the victims and the meeting, Lamison said.

It was not immediately clear if Lester Pettaway or his cousin were represented by attorneys.

Lamison said the victims were undergoing counseling to deal with the trauma.