7 Held in Attack on Girl, Boyfriend Outside Restaurant

Seven men were arrested Thursday on suspicion of attempting to kidnap and rape a teen-age girl after attacking her boyfriend outside a Newhall fast-food restaurant, the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department reported.

The 17-year-old Saugus girl and her 20-year-old boyfriend, whose names were not released, were accosted about 1:30 a.m. by the men in the parking lot of a Carl’s Jr. restaurant at Pico Canyon Road near the Golden State Freeway, Sgt. Gary Sinclair said.

Sinclair said one of the men punched the girl’s boyfriend in the head, dazing him, and then the assailants tried to force the woman into their pickup truck while tearing off her clothes.

The girl struggled with her attackers, and when her boyfriend recovered from the blow he had suffered, he began to fight with them.

The girl broke free, and she and her boyfriend ran back into the restaurant. The men fled in the pickup.

After leaving the restaurant, the couple saw deputies had pulled the pickup over for a possible traffic violation, Sinclair said.

The couple told the deputies what had happened and two suspects were arrested. The other five fled on foot. After a search involving helicopters and police dogs, they were found hiding in bushes.

All seven were booked at the Santa Clarita Sheriff’s Station on suspicion of attempted kidnaping, sexual assault and battery. They were held in lieu of $10,000 bail each.

They were identified as Jose Gonzalez, 19; Oscar Zenteno, 19; Sergio Zenteno, 24; Armando Rodriguez, 25; Augustin Vasquez, 23; Jose Fuentes, 23; and Jose Munoz, 21, all of Newhall.