Westminster police officer and corrections officer held in kidnap, rape of woman

An off-duty Westminster police detective was arrested on suspicion of kidnapping a woman at Ontario Mills Mall and raping her at gunpoint, police said Monday.

FOR THE RECORD:
Officer arrested: In Tuesday’s LATExtra section, the headline on a story about an off-duty Westminster police detective arrested on suspicion of kidnapping and raping a woman said a probation officer had also been arrested. The second man arrested was a corrections officer at the Chino Institution for Men. —

A corrections officer from the Chino Institution for Men, who was also arrested in connection with the incident, has been booked on suspicion of carjacking and is being held as an accessory to the crime.

The incident unfolded Saturday night in the parking lot of the mall when a 25-year-old woman was confronted by Det. Anthony Nicholas Orban of the Westminster Police Department, who got into her car and pointed a gun at the woman, said Sgt. David McBride of the Ontario Police Department.

Jeff Thomas Jelinek, a corrections officer, stood by and watched as the woman was forced to drive away, McBride said.

Orban allegedly ordered the woman to drive to a commercial complex in Fontana, where he raped her, McBride said.

At some point, the woman was able to get out of the car and ran to a local business, where she summoned police.

Authorities said Orban ran after her, leaving his service weapon in the woman’s car. Orban then called Jelinek, who picked him up and took him back to the mall, McBride said.

Realizing that he had lost his weapon, Orban called his wife and told her his gun was missing. His wife, police said, called the Ontario Police Department to report the lost weapon, and officers responded to the mall to assist Orban.

At the same time, the alleged victim was talking to Ontario police officers who began investigating the reported rape.

The police detective and the corrections officer were identified and arrested, McBride said.

Orban, 30, has been with the Westminster Police Department for five years, and is assigned to criminal investigations in the central Orange County city, McBride said.

Orban was booked at the West Valley Detention Center in Rancho Cucamonga on suspicion of kidnapping, false Imprisonment, rape and carjacking.

He is being held in lieu of $1-million bail. He has been placed on paid administrative leave pending the outcome of the investigation.

Jelinek, 30, is a corrections officer assigned to the Chino Institution for Men. He has also been placed on paid administrative leave pending the outcome of the investigation and was booked on suspicion of carjacking and being an accessory to the crime. He is also being held in lieu of $1-million bail.

paloma.esquivel @latimes.com