Santa Ana man charged with abducting, raping teen girl

A Santa Ana man was charged Monday with abducting and raping a 16-year-old girl as she was walking home from a fast-food restaurant.

Authorities were led to Juan Humberto Avila, 33, from DNA collected after he was convicted of a federal weapons charge in Ariznoa.

The girl was walking home after meeting friends at an In-and-Out Burger in Santa Ana about 1:30 a.m. on Jan. 21, 2008, when her attacker jumped on her and punched her, according to prosecutors.

Avila allegedly dragged the girl across the street while threatening to stab her to death if she screamed. He allegedly forced her behind large storage containers at the rear of a parking lot, where he repeatedly raped and sodomized the teenager before forcing her to orally copulate him.

Avila allegedly stole the girl's bank card before fleeing. She ran home and reported the assault to the Santa Ana Police Department.

Prosecutors said DNA was recovered from the girl during a medical rape examination, but the case remained cold until recently, when the recovered DNA was matched to Avila's. Avila was arrested Thursday.

Avila is charged with felony sexual penetration by a foreign object by force and two felony counts each of forcible rape, sodomy by force and forcible oral copulation. He is also accused of inflicting great bodily injury and kidnapping.

Avila has a previous strike against him from a 1997 conviction for participating in a criminal street gang. He faces a maximum sentence of 355 years to life in state prison if convicted.

Prosecutors planned to request Monday that Avila be held on $2-million bail.

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-- Richard Winton

Comments

[Irish]

This clown must think he is tough and a man by doing this to a young girl. The only good thing out of this is he will have to watch his ass everyday so he can get raped by other inmates. Then he will know what it feels like. What a coward.

[Alex P. Gomez]

This scum needs to rot in prison. Unfortunately it will be at taxpayers expense. God bless, the young girl.

[u know]

Hey Kamala Harris, how about the death penalty for this scumbag? Explain to me again why you are against the death penalty for a vicous criminal like this??

[Alex P. Gomez]

This scum should rot in prison. Unfortunately it will be at taxpayers expense. God bless, the young girl involved.

[kpxfiles]

I'm glad that the suspect was found, but why was this 16 year old walking around at 1:30 am. When I was in High School, I had to be home by 9 because there was a city curfew. I lived in Torrance. My mother also would have gotten angry if I stayed past 9. If Santa Ana does not have a curfew, I strongly suggest they do.