Man Charged in Rape, Kidnaping
A Los Angeles man was in custody Saturday after Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies accused him of raping a woman to whom he had offered a ride, assuring her he was a “good man.”
Carlos Pena, 27, was arrested about 9:45 a.m. after passersby saw him dragging a partially clothed woman down an embankment along Sierra Highway, south of San Fernando Road.
He was charged with kidnaping, rape and possession of cocaine and was being held in lieu of $50,000 bail at the Santa Clarita Valley Sheriff’s Station, said Lt. Dan Reidder.
The victim, described as a 25-year-old Monrovia woman, was taken to Henry Mayo Newhall Memorial Hospital in Valencia to be treated for sexual assault and cuts and bruises, Reidder said.
Officials said she met Pena at a public phone booth in Los Angeles, asked him for change so she could call for a ride and then accepted his offer, after asking him, “Are you a good man?”
Pena allegedly replied that he was, then drove in a direction away from the woman’s home once she got in the car, Reidder said.
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