THOUSAND OAKS : Man Accused of Date Rape to Be Arraigned

A 24-year-old Los Angeles man is to be arraigned today on a charge that he raped a Cal Lutheran University student during a date a week ago.

Damon Warren Smith was arrested at 1:30 p.m. Wednesday at an office building in Beverly Hills, where he was working as a security guard, Ventura County Sheriff’s Detective Bob LeMay said.

The woman, a 21-year-old Thousand Oaks resident, told police she met Smith at the Red Onion restaurant in Thousand Oaks several weeks before the alleged attack. While talking at the restaurant, they exchanged phone numbers and agreed to meet again, LeMay said.

On May 6, Smith and the woman planned to meet at her apartment and go see a movie. But because they were running late, Smith suggested instead that they buy alcohol and talk in his car.

After buying the liquor, they drove to a secluded area at the end of Lucero Street near the campus of Cal Lutheran, where they began drinking and talking. Smith then persuaded the woman to get into the back seat of the car, where he allegedly raped her, LeMay said.

Smith, who is being held in Ventura County Jail in lieu of $20,000 bail, told police they had consensual sex. After the alleged attack, the woman persuaded Smith to drive her to Denny’s restaurant on Thousand Oaks Boulevard, where she excused herself to use the restroom.

There, the woman told employees what had happened. They then called police and hid her in the back of the restaurant. After checking for the woman in Denny’s, Smith left before police arrived.

Although detectives immediately knew Smith’s name, they had trouble finding him because he had moved several times, LeMay said. With the help of Beverly Hills police, detectives traced him to where he was working Wednesday.