Testimony Places Suspects at Migrant Camp : Attack: A sheriff’s detective tells of his interviews with a witness to the attack, which left three Latinos badly injured.

The husband of a woman whose alleged rape near an Alpine migrant camp prompted a vigilante attack on three Latino men was seen leading the bat-wielding assailants into the creek-bed encampment, according to testimony at a preliminary hearing Tuesday.

Dan Stout, 35, of Alpine and four other men have been charged in connection with the Oct. 1 beating that seriously injured two Mexican men and one Guatemalan national, none of whom were present when the alleged rape of Stout’s wife occurred.

Sheriff’s Detective Albert Garcia testified Tuesday that a witness to the bat attack said Stout led four other men into the creek bed and began attacking the migrants about 7 p.m. Oct. 1.

All of the men have pleaded not guilty to the charges, though Garcia said Stout told him he had threatened several migrants with a baseball bat Sept. 25--the day after the alleged rape--and returned to the encampment later that night “with a flashlight and a knife, looking for Mexicans.”

According to Garcia, Stout said he found no one at the encampment that night, and insists he had nothing to do with the bat attack a week later.

The preliminary hearing continues today and will determine whether El Cajon Municipal Judge Larrie Brainard binds the five men over for trial.

Also in custody are Ronald Aishman, 26, of Spring Valley; Charles Edward Nocita, 28, of El Cajon; Ronald Inman, 22, of El Cajon, and Christopher Hastings, 21, of El Cajon. Hastings has admitted driving others to the crime scene but cannot identify any of them, his attorney said Tuesday.

All have been charged with assault with a deadly weapon, assault with great bodily injury, conspiracy to commit those crimes, and committing a hate crime. All have prior convictions, which range from robbery to traffic violations and drug charges.

Garcia testified Tuesday that a witness to the bat attack identified two of the suspects--Nocita and Stout--in photo lineups.

Jose Lopez Sanchez came forward Oct. 9 and said he had witnessed the bat attack and the incident Sept. 24 that Kim Stout later reported as a rape, Garcia testified. The district attorney’s office decided not to prosecute the alleged rape. Though the woman said she was raped by one Latino, several witnesses told sheriff’s investigators that she drank beer and willingly had sex with several men.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Luis Aragon said Tuesday that Lopez was unavailable to testify at the preliminary hearing. Instead, he questioned Garcia about his interviews with Lopez.

Garcia said Lopez told him that he saw five men carrying objects resembling bats get out of a red pickup with a white camper shell and enter the creek bed, led by a man Lopez identified as Stout. The Stouts own a red pickup with a white camper shell.

Lopez also said he saw Nocita carrying a ribbed table leg with a rectangular top as he ran from the attackers. A table leg that fit that description was recovered at the scene and was presented in court as evidence Tuesday.

However, Nocita’s attorney, deputy public defender Jacqueline Crowle, argued that Lopez was “confused” because he first said Nocita may have been the husband of the alleged rape victim but later identified Stout as the husband.

Crowle also pointed out that Lopez identified a man in a Times photo as one of the assailants, but no one has been able to pick that man out of a photo lineup and he is not in custody. The photo was taken when Stout and two other men confronted a group of migrants near the encampment Sept. 25, the day after the alleged rape.

Oscar Mendoza, the Guatemalan national who was attacked Oct. 1, also took the stand Tuesday.

Mendoza had arrived in Alpine the day before the attack with a friend, looking for work, he said, and the pair were attacked as they sat in the creek bed talking. Mendoza’s arm was gashed and fractured when he lifted it to protect a blow aimed at his head, he said. His head was also gashed in the attack.

Mendoza said he only saw three men attack him and his friend Leobardo Zarco of Mexico City. One man struck Mendoza repeatedly and chased him out of the canyon, Mendoza testified.

Although he identified that man in a photo lineup as Ronald Aishman and described him as a white man with curly hair, a long ponytail and mustache, which matches Aishman’s description, Mendoza was unable to identify him in court Tuesday as his assailant.

Aishman’s attorney, William Burnell, said he plans to focus on that fact today when he cross-examines Mendoza.