AUBURN (KTXL) — The seven men accused of conspiring to inappropriately touch underage girls at the Golfland-SunSplash water park in Roseville were allowed to go free on Wednesday.
They all still face charges of committing lewd and lascivious acts on children under 14 years of age and must return to court on June 27.
The Placer County District Attorney’s Office said there was not enough evidence to formally charge the men on Wednesday, and requested more time to gather more evidence like witness statements and possible surveillance video.
The seven men were arrested on Memorial Day after reports they were grabbing and touching girls at the water park. They are Gursharanpal Banga, 34, Manpreet Singh Dhillon, 26, Lakhveer Singh Gill, 30, Baljinder Singh Khaira, 38, Balwinder Singh Malhi, 32, Dharampal Singh, 21, and Harpreet Singh Talwar, 18.
“It appears that the individuals who were arrested knew each other and worked in a coordinated effort to inappropriately touch several female juveniles,” the police department wrote in a Facebook post Tuesday afternoon.
Roseville Police spokesman Rob Baquera says one of the girls was surrounded by the men.
Police credited the young victims and water park security for helping lead investigators to the suspects. Baquera commended the girls for thinking on their feet.
“These young ladies who were victimized, they had a great fast-acting thought to report it to security,” he said.
An alert 11-year-old knew a sketchy situation when she saw one.
“A couple of individuals that were giving her, in her words, ‘the creeps,'” said the girl’s father, Mark McKee.
McKee believes the men his daughter saw at SunSplash are the same men arrested Monday.
“She said they were moving in closer to her, they were looking at her weird and smiling,” he told KTXL.
McKee says his daughter isn’t a victim but he is proud of her.
“She did the right thing. As soon as the waves stopped she got out of the wave pool and came and told us,” McKee said.
The police department said the booking photos of the suspects will not be released because of the ongoing investigation.
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