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A former Riverside County sheriff’s deputy who...

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A former Riverside County sheriff’s deputy who was found guilty two years ago of sexually assaulting a teen-age girl has been ordered to stand trial on charges of rape and robbery of an elderly widow last April while the conviction was on appeal.

After a two-day preliminary hearing, South Bay Municipal Court Commissioner Douglas G. Carnahan ordered Rick Alan Gonzales bound over to Torrance Superior Court to answer to seven felony charges, including two counts of rape and one count of robbery. The commissioner ordered Gonzales, who lives in Riverside County, held without bail pending a hearing on Aug. 5.

Gonzales, 31, was arrested in Torrance on April 24, less than three weeks before he was scheduled to begin a 10-year prison term for raping and kidnaping a 13-year-old runaway girl while on duty. Convicted in August, 1983, the former deputy was free on $100,000 bail pending appeal.

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Prosecutors allege that Gonzales broke into the home of a 65-year-old Torrance woman about 3 a.m. and, after wresting a small handgun from her, raped her twice before fleeing with a small amount of money. Gonzales was arrested after the woman told authorities she recognized him as a former neighbor.

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