Charges Against 4 Men in Kidnaping and Rape Dropped

Charges against four men accused of gang-raping a 20-year-old San Francisco woman, who allegedly was abducted in Long Beach as she walked to buy formula for her 11-month old baby, were dropped Wednesday when the alleged victim failed to appear as a witness.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Larry Donoghue said prosecutors plan to refile charges against the four, if possible.

“We are absolutely convinced that the alleged crimes did occur,” Donoghue said.

Representatives of the district attorney’s office expected to meet the witness at Los Angeles International on Wednesday morning and escort her to a preliminary hearing in Compton Municipal Court.

Donoghue said the young woman had agreed as late as Tuesday night to use tickets purchased for her by prosecutors and fly to Southern California to testify.

“At this point, it’s just speculation why she didn’t come,” Donoghue said.

If she subsequently changes her mind and agrees to testify, Donoghue said, prosecutors will refile charges against Victor Lopez Jr., 27, a suspended security guard for the Long Beach Unified School District, and three others identified by deputies as gang members: Owen Fuimaono, 22, Ondiva Tautolo, 21, and Lau Talo Jr., 22.

They were charged with several felonies, including rape in concert, sodomy, forcible oral copulation and kidnaping for the purpose of sex.

The woman told deputies she was abducted in Long Beach near the intersection of Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard and Pacific Coast Highway early on Oct. 26 and driven several blocks to a park where she was repeatedly attacked.

She was found by two sheriff’s deputies assigned to patrol the Metro Rail Blue Line. They said they spotted a car with its license plate covered with tape and plastic bags, investigated and detained two men standing beside the car.

Investigating further, the deputies said they found two other men inside the car, one holding a gun to the head of a woman. Both the gun and car were registered to Lopez, according to investigators.