No Charges to Be Filed in Rape Case
The district attorney has declined to file charges against a Canyon Country man accused of raping a woman outside a Santa Clarita nightclub last month.
Francisco Tapia, 26, was released from custody Monday. He was arrested last Wednesday on suspicion of raping a 22-year-old woman in the parking lot of Cantina Beach in the 22900 block of Soledad Canyon Road on July 15.
A spokeswoman for the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office said the woman was unable to provide critical information about the alleged rape because she was traumatized by the event.
“It’s her word against his as to whether it was consensual sex,” said spokeswoman Victoria Pipkin. “The victim can’t testify to everything that happened.”
Authorities said Tapia and the woman, who didn’t know each other, were in the bar prior to the alleged attack.
According to the victim’s account, Tapia grabbed her in the parking lot and raped her near the sport utility vehicle he had borrowed that evening. A security video camera inside the club captured the two leaving the club, Pipkin said.
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