OXNARD : Talent Scout, 34, Is Held in Rape Case
A man who allegedly raped a 20-year-old woman in Oxnard after promising to launch her modeling career was arrested at the Inglewood business where he worked as a talent scout, police said Monday.
Wendel Eric Anthony O’Neil, 34, was being held without bail in Ventura County Jail on suspicion of rape, oral copulation, kidnaping, false imprisonment, violation of parole and a traffic warrant, authorities said.
O’Neil allegedly raped the woman at gunpoint in his car Sept. 29, said Detective Mike Palmieri of the Oxnard Police Department.
O’Neil had asked the woman--whom he had met several times in local nightclubs--if she would go with him to a party in Santa Barbara. In return, O’Neil said he would give her half off the price of a portfolio to get a start in modeling, Palmieri said.
When they returned to Oxnard from the party, O’Neil parked in a residential area, pulled out a gun and told the woman to disrobe and get in the back seat, Palmieri said. O’Neil raped the woman and dropped her off in the north Oxnard area near her residence, Palmieri said.
The woman, who knew O’Neil only as Tony, reported the crime to police. Detectives from police departments in Oxnard, Santa Barbara and Inglewood and the Santa Barbara Sheriff’s Department began investigating production companies and studios in their search for the man.
The investigation led to a business where two Inglewood detectives found O’Neil on Friday and arrested him, Palmieri said.
O’Neil also was wanted on a parole violation warrant for felony spousal abuse, Palmieri said.
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