2 Men Plead Innocent to Kidnapings and Rapes

Two men pleaded innocent Thursday to rape, kidnaping and other felony charges alleging they abducted three women from San Fernando Valley streets at gunpoint and raped them at a ranch in Acton.

Paul James McDaniels, 23, of Canyon Country and Theodore Robert Conyers, 26, of Acton each were charged Thursday with five counts of rape, two counts of kidnaping, one count of attempted forcible rape while acting in concert and one count of sexual battery. McDaniels also was charged with a third count of kidnaping.

At an arraignment Thursday in Van Nuys Municipal Court, Commissioner Rebecca Omens-Rochman ordered both men held without bail and set a July 2 preliminary hearing date.

On at least three occasions over the past eight months, police believe the men ordered lone women into a pickup and drove them to the ranch, where they raped or attempted to rape them. After the rapes, the men returned the victims to the area where they were picked up, police said.

The victims ranged in age from 12 to 31, investigators said. Court documents name three who were allegedly raped.

But police believe there may be other victims who have not come forward.

The most recent known abduction occurred June 8, according to the criminal complaint filed against the men. The other known assaults took place last Nov. 30 and Oct. 13, the document states.

Omens-Rochman on Thursday granted a defense request not to permit media photographers and television cameramen to take the men’s photos, saying such exposure could taint witnesses’ and victims’ identification of the men in a lineup.