OXNARD : Girl Raped by Men Offering Ride Home

A 14-year-old Oxnard girl was raped by three men who promised her a ride home early Thursday, authorities said.

A 25-year-old woman also was raped Thursday after using a public telephone in the Ojai area.

Officials said the two attacks were not related.

The teen-ager was going to call her aunt or her mother in Oxnard about 12:40 a.m. when three men in a car stopped and asked her if she wanted a ride home, said Sgt. Pat Buckley of the Ventura County Sheriff’s Department.

The girl thought she recognized one of the men as a casual acquaintance and got in the car, he said.

However, the men drove her to a field where each raped her, Buckley said, adding that no weapons were seen.

The attack lasted until about 2:45 a.m., he said.

The men left her in the field. The girl flagged down a motorist, who drove her to the Oxnard Police Department.

Officials there determined that the crime took place outside city limits and referred the case to the Sheriff’s Department, Buckley said.

Buckley said deputies had leads and suspects but have made no arrests. The investigation is continuing.

The Sheriff’s Department also is investigating the rape of the 25-year-old woman, who went to make a call at a public phone on Matilija Street, officials said. She was walking back to her apartment when she was accosted about 1:30 a.m. in the 200 block of North Signal Street, Sgt. Tom Odle said.

A man dragged her into a shopping center area and raped her.

He threatened to harm her, but no weapons were seen, Odle said.

When he let her go, she returned to her apartment, where she called police, Odle said.