SANTA PAULA : Man, 29, Arrested on Suspicion of Rape
A 29-year-old Santa Paula man was arrested Friday on suspicion of kidnaping and raping a 17-year-old girl at gunpoint, police said.
Dennis Baca was arrested after an attempted abduction of a 16-year-old girl at gunpoint about 10 a.m. in the 1400 block of E. Santa Paula Street., said Santa Paula Police Cmdr. Bob Gonzales.
The victim broke free as her attacker tried to force her into his yellow pickup truck, Gonzales said. Officers followed a pickup fitting the description and arrested Baca without incident at Cal-Truck, a wrecking yard at 963 Mission Rock Road, Gonzales said.
Police did not find a gun in the pickup truck, but retraced the route and found a .22-caliber semiautomatic handgun on the side of the road, Gonzales said.
Investigators suspect Baca in the June 1 kidnaping and rape of a Santa Paula Union High School student because “the description of the suspect and the suspect, as well as the vehicle, matched to a T,” Gonzales said.
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