Man charged in rape, kidnapping returned to U.S. from Guatemala
A former Palm Springs man charged with a 2002 kidnapping and rape of a woman has been returned to Riverside County after fleeing to Guatemala, authorities said Monday.
Norman Alberto Juarez Pineda, 33, was returned over the weekend and was being held Monday night without bail at the Larry D. Smith Correctional Facility in Banning, the Riverside County district attorney's office said.
Pineda is charged with 15 felonies, including rape by force, sodomy by force and assault with a deadly weapon in connection with the attack on April 26, 2002, at the woman's Desert Hot Springs apartment.
He was arrested by authorities in Guatemala in July 2008. But he was not returned until this weekend because of court motions and appeals filed in Guatemala, authorities said.
Pineda is scheduled to be arraigned Wednesday at the courthouse in Indio. If convicted as charged, he faces multiple life sentences.
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