Man Convicted of Kidnaping, Raping Illegal Alien Women

A 51-year-old Torrance man was convicted Thursday of kidnaping, raping and extorting money from illegal alien women while falsely posing as an immigration officer.

Napoleon Lopez Castro, who authorities say could face 13 years to life in prison when sentenced Aug. 30 by Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Aurelio Munoz, was found guilty of 18 counts of kidnaping, extortion, robbery and sexual assault on 11 victims.

Castro, who worked as a pipe fitter in a Long Beach shipyard, previously served prison time for similar offenses, including a five-year term ending in 1983 for rape and extortion of immigrant women.

Castro, arrested again last fall, initially pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity. But he later dropped the plea and requested that Munoz instead issue a verdict based on a transcript of testimony from his preliminary court hearing.

Psychiatric Problems

“Doctors agreed he had serious psychiatric problems but not sufficient for a defense . . . of insanity,” said his counsel, Deputy Public Defender Mark Kaiserman. “He realizes he has serious mental problems and he hopes he’ll get into a hospital-type setting in the state prison system.”

Castro was charged with driving up to Latino women who were waiting for buses and informing them that he was an immigration officer. If they did not speak English, Deputy Dist. Atty. Margaret Barreto-Morehouse said, he threatened them in Spanish with deportation unless they paid him “a fine (or) . . . a favor instead.”

“It was always the same refrain,” Barreto-Morehouse added, ‘ “Give me a little of your love.’ ”

Two of the eleven victims, she said, were raped.

The Arizona-born defendant was convicted of 10 counts of kidnaping for extortion. Each count carries a maximum sentence of life in prison.

Munoz also found Castro guilty of five counts of sexual assault, one count of attempted kidnaping for extortion and one count each of extortion and robbery. Munoz, who had already dismissed nine counts during a pretrial hearing, found Castro not guilty on four other counts.