Santa Ana : Unusual Rings Sought in Search for Rapist

Santa Ana police are searching for a man who raped a 53-year-old newspaper carrier by tracing the whereabouts of two unusual diamond rings he stole from her.

Police spokeswoman Maureen Thomas said the woman was raped July 5 by a man who struck up a conversation with her while she was delivering copies of the Orange County Register in Santa Ana. “The (man) asked if he could walk along with her while she delivered her newspapers, and she really did not think there was anything odd about this,” Thomas said. At the end of the route, Thomas said, the man attacked her and forced her to remove her wedding band and engagement ring. He fled in a blue pickup truck with a white camper shell, Thomas said.

Both of the rings are made of white gold and are size 4 1/2, Thomas said. One has a two-carat, marquis-shaped diamond set in the middle of numerous other diamonds, with an inscription that reads: MD-RM and a date. The other is a band set with numerous small diamonds and similarly inscribed. Anyone who has information should contact Police Investigator Gary Bruce at (714) 834-4234.