CORONA DEL MAR TODAY

Man Charged in Cameo Rape Case; D.A. Releases Details About Attack

UPDATED

A man who held police SWAT teams at bay for seven hours this week in Cameo Shores has been charged with raping, sexually assaulting and threatening to kill his 29-year-old victim, according to a statement issued by the Orange County District Attorney’s office.

The man, 48, was arrested Monday morning in his parents’ home on Camden Drive. He has been charged with one felony count each of aggravated assault, criminal threats, forcible oral copulation, false imprisonment by violence, three felony counts each of forcible rape and sexual penetration by foreign object by force and one misdemeanor count of resisting or obstructing an officer. If convicted, he faces a maximum sentence of 58 years in state prison, the statement said.

He is scheduled to be arraigned today with a bail request of $200,000. The court appearance was rescheduled to June 3, and the man remains in jail with bail set at $250,000.

According to the district attorney’s statement, the incident began at about 10 p.m. Sunday, when the victim, whom they call “Jane Doe,” went to the man’s home. She’d met him a few months earlier and spoke to him several times on the phone prior to the attack, the statement said.

As soon as she entered the home, the suspect is accused of choking her and threatening to kill her if she did not cooperate, the statement said. The suspect is accused of raping the woman in his bedroom and other rooms in the house, as well as “forcing her to orally copulate him and sexually penetrating her with his fingers, a pen, and a toothbrush,” the statement said. He is accused of refusing to let her leave and keeping her in the home against her will.

Before the woman left to meet the defendant, she told a friend.

“Beginning at approximately 12:30 a.m. Jane Doe’s friend tried calling the victim but was unable to reach her,” the statement says. “At approximately 3:00 a.m., after several failed attempted to reach Jane Doe and becoming concerned for Jane Doe’s safety, the victim’s friend drove to (the suspect’s) house and called out for her friend from outside. Jane Doe was able to escape through a window and run to her friend’s car.”

Neighbors heard yelling and called 911. Police stopped the women as they drove away, but when they went to the man’s home, is barricaded himself inside and refused to come out.

The police SWAT team and hostage negotiators arrived, closing off two Cameo Shores streets. Police evacuated about nine homes and telephoned neighbors to alert them of the situation. (Read our stories here and here.)

Anyone with additional information or who believes they have been a victim is encouraged to contact Supervising District Attorney Investigator Lou Gutierrez at (714) 347-8794.