2 Get Long Sentences for 1993 Rape, Assault on Beach

An Orange County Superior Court judge imposed stiff sentences Friday on two Ontario gang members convicted of sexual assault after hearing a plea from the victim.

Stepping up to a court podium, the 20-year-old La Habra woman urged Judge Everett W. Dickey to impose harsh sentences on both men who tied up her boyfriend and then attacked her at Crescent Bay Beach in Laguna Beach in July, 1993. As a result of the assault, the woman was infected with an incurable venereal disease, prosecutors have said.

“I have to deal with what they did to me and my friend for the rest of my life,” the woman said. “There’s nothing I can do or that anyone can say to make me feel better. And I have to deal with the disease that I caught from it also for the rest of my life.”

Dickey sentenced Floyd Robert Sullivan, 19, to 20 years in state prison, and Robert Robles, 23, to 58 years in state prison. Both pleaded guilty in January to 14 felony counts, including kidnaping, rape, sodomy, assault, robbery and false imprisonment.

Authorities said the woman and her boyfriend were sitting on the beach about 1 a.m. when Robles, Sullivan and a juvenile approached them carrying a loaded shotgun and a metal baseball bat. The three bound the boyfriend at gunpoint and Robles led the woman to another part of the beach, where he repeatedly sexually assaulted her while the other two stood guard over the boyfriend.

The juvenile has been convicted and sentenced to the California Youth Authority, said Deputy Dist. Atty. Dan McNerney.

In handing down Robles’ sentence, Dickey ignored the objections of Robles’ defense attorney, George A. Peters Jr., who called it overly severe given that the maximum sentence for first-degree murder is 25 years to life in prison.

But Dickey pointed out that the two men committed multiple serious crimes and said he was following sentencing guidelines in reaching his decisions. Dickey explained that he was handing down a stiffer sentence for Robles because he actually committed the sexual assaults, used the shotgun to threaten the couple and had a prior criminal record.

“The court feels that it is appropriate to do that given the seriousness of the crimes and the impact on the victims,” Dickey said. Addressing himself to Robles, he said, “The terror that was perpetuated on both of these victims--the only reason I can see for it was for gratifying your sexual desires.”

Through much of the hearing, Robles shuffled papers and occasionally whispered to Sullivan. At one point, as Dickey was imposing sentence, Robles turned to Sullivan, whispered and softly laughed.

Dickey told Sullivan, who sat with his head bowed for much of the hearing, that he believed Robles had been a strong influence on him, but added that that did not excuse him. Dickey said he found Sullivan’s part in the crimes “perplexing” given the support he had enjoyed from family and friends.

“You had everything going for you,” Dickey said. “You have caused the youth of your life to be taken away from you. But it was your choice, and you made it. I hope that when you get out of prison, you will go back to being the kind of person you were before you met Mr. Robles.”

After the hearing, the rape victim said the sentence is “a lot of years, and I am glad they are getting punished for what they did. In a way, it was like murder because a part of me died.”