3 Men Charged in Rapes, Robberies

The district attorney’s office formally filed criminal charges Thursday against three transients arrested earlier this week in connection with a series of rapes and robberies in west San Fernando Valley parks.

The complaint, filed in Van Nuys Municipal Court, charges Jose Guadalupe Chavez, 20; Jose Rivas Torres, 28, and Francisco Chavez Ramirez, 30, in connection with attacks in which two girls and a woman were raped and 10 people were robbed.

They are being held in County Jail in lieu of bails ranging from $250,000 to $550,000.

The alleged ringleader of the group, Hector Martinez Rocha, 20, was charged Tuesday with 26 felony counts, including three counts of rape, nine counts of false imprisonment and 12 counts of robbery. He allegedly committed crimes in four attacks and reportedly acted by himself in one incident.

All four are scheduled to be arraigned in Municipal Court on Monday.

Ramirez, who faces a total of 18 felony counts, and Rocha were charged with attacking two groups of people in Shadow Ranch Park in West Hills on May 28 and 30. Two teen-age girls were raped in a May 30 incident in which six people were robbed.

Rocha, Torres and Chavez were also charged in the June 11 assault on two women in Chatsworth Park North, where the victims were robbed and tied up with their own belts and shoelaces. Even though Chavez’s only involvement was allegedly acting as the getaway driver for the other two, he was charged with six felonies along with Torres.

Rocha acted alone in the last attack on June 16 in which a young woman was raped, according to authorities.