Orange resident charged in lewd burglary case

A 19-year-old Orange resident helped himself to milk and cookies before burglarizing college students’ homes, leaving semen on one victim’s laptop, Orange County prosecutors said Monday.

With the help of a new rapid DNA program that used a sample from the semen, officials said they were able to identify and arrest Jonathan Jose Ruiz about a week after the crimes. He was charged Monday with burglary and vandalism, according to the Orange County district attorney’s office.

Prosecutors say Ruiz entered the home of four female college students through a window while they were attending an event on Oct. 4. He ransacked their rooms, authorities said, scattering their underwear throughout the home.

Ruiz used one victim’s laptop to download images of the woman and browse pornography websites, prosecutors said, and left semen on the laptop. Investigators also found a milk container on the kitchen counter and evidence that he had eaten multiple cookies.

When Ruiz was arrested on Oct. 11, prosecutors say he was in possession of multiple items belonging to the four women, including two pairs of underwear.

Orange Police Sgt. Phil McMullin said Ruiz did not know the victims. Ruiz was in the district attorney’s office’s DNA database because he had previously been sentenced in a misdemeanor vandalism case, prosecutors said.

If convicted on all counts, Ruiz faces up to six years and eight months in prison.

alejandra.reyesvelarde@latimes.com

Twitter: @r_valejandra