( CNN ) -- Three teenage boys in a Connecticut town -- at least two of them popular high school football players -- stand accused of rape for alleged encounters with two 13-year-old girls . And at least one of the alleged victims has been attacked on social media , with messages from fellow teens calling her a `` whore . '' The allegations are spiraling through Torrington , a small town of 36,000 people in northwest Connecticut . The case has come to light just days after two teenage football players in Steubenville , Ohio , were found guilty of raping a 16-year-old girl in an incident involving disturbing , boastful text messages and a series of social media attacks against the accuser . Now Torrington is thrust into the national spotlight , becoming a new focal point for worries over teenage sex , rape and the use of social media to alternately attack both the alleged victim and the accused . The Torrington cases are very different from Steubenville , however . `` What we 're dealing with here is an age difference , '' Lt. Michael Emmanuel , commander of the Torrington Police Department Detective Division , told CNN . `` If it was a one-year age difference ... there would have been no crime . '' How do I raise a boy not to be a rapist ? Connecticut law makes it illegal for a teenager to have sex with a minor more than three years younger than him or her . `` These victims knew the arrestees , they were friends with them , '' and they were involved in the encounters `` voluntarily , although it was still wrong , '' Emmanuel said . It was `` consensual '' in the sense that there was not an attack but was illegal because by law , a 13-year-old is too young to give consent , he said . Joan Toribio and Edgar Gonzalez , both 18 , are charged with sexual assault , risk of injury to a minor and illegal contact with a child , prosecutor Terri Sonnemann told CNN . The alleged offenses occurred in early February . Toribio also faces similar charges in an alleged earlier incident in January involving one of the two alleged victims . Police documents provided to CNN list the alleged offenses by Toribio and Gonzalez as `` sex forcible rape . '' The young men have not made a public statement . An attorney for Toribio declined to comment . Gonzalez 's attorney , J. Patten Brown III , said his client denies all charges against him . Gonzalez is being held in jail pending trial because his mother can not afford to post bond , Brown said . `` We pleaded not guilty , and we asked for a jury trial , '' Brown said . `` We deny anything occurred ; we deny all allegations . '' Torrington High School senior Joe Tessora told CNN affiliate WFSB that Toribio and Gonzalez are `` the coolest guys ever . They 're not all that bad . All this stuff is getting pulled out of proportion . '' Opinion : In Steubenville , why did n't other girls help ? A 17-year-old boy has also been charged in an alleged incident last fall , police said . Because he is a minor , authorities have not released information about him . Authorities have not released many details because the cases remain under seal . Emmanuel explained how the case began : The family of one of the alleged victims learned of the encounter and reported it to police . That sparked an investigation , which led to police discovering that two 18-year-olds had allegedly sexually assaulted two 13-year-old girls , and that one of those girls had also allegedly been sexually assaulted by a 17-year-old boy last fall . Attacked on Twitter . After word broke of the case in February , some people , many of them fellow teens , began vicious attacks , particularly against the girl whose parents had gone to the police . `` I wan na know why there 's no punishment for young hoes , '' one person tweeted . `` Young girls acting like whores there 's no punishment for that young men acting like boys is a sentence , '' another tweeted . `` I hope you got what you wanted , '' wrote another . One tweet accused her of having `` snitched . '' The local newspaper , The Register Citizen , archived images of tweets before many were taken down . `` Even if it was all his fault , what was a 13 year old girl doing hanging around with 18 year old guys , '' tweeted one girl , whose Twitter handle seemed to no longer be active Thursday . She later tweeted that she was misunderstood . Healing process after rape never ends . One boy tweeted that he is the cousin of the girl who wrote that tweet , and that some people on Twitter were `` threatening to kill '' her for what she wrote . Brown , Gonzalez 's attorney , said his client had no knowledge of the Twitter traffic , has had no access to computers and has had no visitors who could have informed him . `` I find it interesting that the accused 's name is published but not the accuser 's , '' Brown said . `` But that 's the law , and I have every intention of respecting and obeying the law , and my client has every intention of respecting and obeying the law as well . `` He 's more concerned with moving forward with the trial , being exonerated and putting this behind him , '' Brown said . How to help and support young rape victims .
Three Connecticut teens , ages 17 and 18 , are accused of having sex with two girls , 13 . In Connecticut , it is illegal for a teen to have sex with a minor more three years younger . The girl was 14 when the sexual encounter took place in January. As the case became public , one alleged victim was criticized on Twitter by other teens .