Man Gets 98 Years for Rape, Robbery

A 35-year-old Pacoima resident was sentenced to 98 years in prison Monday for the rape and robbery of a 61-year-old woman who was his next-door neighbor.

Johnny Lee Ray was convicted Feb. 8 of three counts of rape, three counts of forcible oral copulation, one count of sodomy and one count of burglary and residential robbery.

He was given the maximum sentence by San Fernando Superior Court Judge Haig Kehiayan.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Craig Richman said Ray raped, robbed and beat the woman in her Pacoima home on Feb. 1, 1990.

The woman didn’t know her attacker, but she told police that he “had a strong family resemblance to the next-door neighbors,” Richman said.

Ray, who had recently been released from prison on drug charges, had just moved next door with relatives.

“He hadn’t even been out of prison a month,” Richman said.

Ray claimed that he was with his fiancee at the time of the incident.

A five-year term was added to the sentence for each sexual offense because a deadly weapon was used.