Simi Man to Stand Trial in Sex Assaults on 9 Girls : Courts: Police suspect Victor Becerra of attacks on youths, ages 12 to 15. Four of the alleged victims say they were raped.

They drank cheap wine, sipped the bottled drink Zima or smoked marijuana with the older guy they met at a Simi Valley video arcade. Then, the teen-age girls told investigators, they were molested or raped.

Presented with those stories Monday, a judge ordered 27-year-old Victor M. Becerra of Simi Valley to stand trial on 43 felony charges. Police suspect Becerra of sexually assaulting nine Simi Valley girls, ages 12 to 15, over the summer. Four of the teen-agers say they were raped.

Simi Valley police arrested Becerra last month after a 15-year-old girl reported she had been sexually assaulted.

Police monitored a telephone call the teen-ager made to Becerra, in which he apologized for the attack, Simi Valley Detective Gary Galloway testified.

He quoted Becerra as telling the girl he was sorry for pulling off her clothes and touching her, saying: “I knew it was wrong. I don’t know what happened.”

Investigators said they believe the factory worker spent time at teen-age haunts in Simi Valley, where he met many of the girls.

Another 15-year-old girl told investigators that she befriended Becerra at the Family Fun Zone the night she ran away from home in June, Ventura County district attorney’s investigator Susan Creede testified. Becerra also hung out at 7-Eleven and Circle K stores, playing arcade games with the teen-agers, investigators said.

Creede said Becerra told the girl she could spend the night at his sister’s home. But instead, he drove her to his home, where he raped her, Creede testified.

Before the alleged incident, Creede said Becerra forced the girl to lie on her stomach in his bed. As Becerra massaged her back and undid her bra, he spoke on the telephone with another girl he is accused of assaulting, the investigator said.

Creede testified that most of the girls knew Becerra as “Ruben” or “RB,” names he used because he did not want the girls to know his real name.

Investigators said Becerra presented himself as a 19-year-old and said he impressed the girls with his sports car and his store of liquor and drugs. Several of the girls accusing Becerra have drug and alcohol problems, Creede testified.

None of the teen-agers testified Monday. After hearing testimony for most of the morning, Municipal Judge Thomas Hutchins ruled that enough evidence existed to compel Becerra to stand trial.

He will be arraigned in Superior Court on Dec. 11. He remains jailed in lieu of $250,000 bail.

Becerra has pleaded not guilty to all charges.

Becerra was convicted in 1991 of tying up his girlfriend and threatening her with a machete. He served four months in Ventura County Jail for the offense and was still on probation when he was arrested on suspicion of rape.