Girl Assaulted After Carjacking; 4 Arrested

Four men remained in custody Saturday as suspects in a harrowing carjacking in which a 15-year-old girl was sexually assaulted after she could not escape the vehicle when her frightened friends surrendered it, police said.

Two of the assailants choked the girl with a belt as they sexually assaulted her in the backseat of the 1983 Nissan Sentra, according to Santa Ana Police Sgt. Dick Faust.

The suspects were being held at the Santa Ana detention facility in lieu of $50,000 bail each.

Alexandro Miranda Mora, 23, of Garden Grove, and Antonio Mora Sanchez, 21, of Santa Ana, were being held on suspicion of carjacking, kidnapping, assault with a deadly weapon and child molestation.

Also in custody are Juan Diaz Carasco, 24, and Moises Casamata Sanchez, 22, both of Santa Ana, who are suspected of carjacking and kidnapping.

The car was stolen about 11:30 p.m. Friday at the intersection of 1st Street and Broadway, Faust said.

The car’s driver, Carmela Rojas, 18, of Santa Ana, told police the four suspects approached while she was stopped at a red light, Faust said.

“They were just driving along and these guys confronted them and said, ‘We’ll kill you if you don’t give us the car,’ ” Faust said. “They were just easy prey.”

Rojas and a 16-year-old passenger fled the car and called police, but the 15-year-old Santa Ana girl in the backseat could not escape as four carjackers jumped into the car and sped off, Faust said. For more than half an hour, the assailants drove through the city while sexually assaulting the girl, Faust said.

The girl then managed to escape by climbing through an open window when the car came to a stop near the intersection of Harbor and Garden Grove boulevards, police said.

A few minutes later, just before midnight, Garden Grove police spotted the car near Harbor Boulevard. The suspects fled on foot, but officers caught the four men and booked them in Santa Ana.

The name of the 15-year-old was not released because of her age and the nature of the crime. She was treated briefly by paramedics but was not hospitalized, Faust said.