Man Freed After Being Suspected of Rape
The district attorney has declined to file charges against a Canyon Country man who had been arrested on suspicion of raping a woman outside a nightclub last month.
Francisco Tapia, 26, was released from custody on Monday. He was arrested last Wednesday after a 22-year-old woman reported being raped 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 incident because she was traumatized.
“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, had been in the bar. According to her account, Tapia grabbed her in the parking lot and raped her near the sports 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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