Man Sentenced to 23 Years for Rape, Attacks on Schoolgirls

A 20-year-old Pacoima man who raped a teen-ager as she walked to school and attacked several others as they waited at bus stops, was sentenced to 23 years in prison Thursday.

Marcelo Gonzalez Mendoza pleaded guilty last month to four counts of kidnaping with the intent to commit rape and one count of rape. He was sentenced in San Fernando Superior Court by Judge Ronald S. Coen.

Mendoza would “stalk bus stops” and areas near schools in Pacoima waiting for young girls, Deputy Dist. Atty. Steven Ipsen said. “They were the most innocent of victims. They were either going to school or returning from school.” Mendoza would “walk up behind them and drag them off at gunpoint or at knifepoint,” threatening to kill them, Ipsen said.

One attack occurred in November as a girl was walking on Herrick Avenue near Pinney Street. Mendoza threatened her with a gun, then raped her, Ipsen said.

Three of the five attacks occurred May 6 in Pacoima in the area of Paxton Street and Dronfield Avenue. Mendoza fondled and threatened the girls but each managed to escape without being raped, Ipsen said. When one victim told Mendoza that she was on her menstrual cycle, he let her go but threatened to find her and kill her if she did not return to a specified place four days later, Ipsen said.

Mendoza was arrested after that victim told her relatives, who then went out looking for the man. They spotted Mendoza and his wife and stepchild walking in Pacoima, chased and caught him and notified authorities.

All of Mendoza’s victims were 15 or 16 years old.