Rape Suspect Snared by DNA Ploy Pleads Guilty

A suspect who was tricked by an enterprising police detective into leaving his saliva on a soft drink straw at an Orange County Taco Bell pleaded guilty to two rape charges Monday in a case that even his lawyer said represented a legitimate yet unusual use of DNA evidence.

Brea Police Det. Susan Hanna had been working on the case for months and thought Robert William Bradford Jr. was her man when she invited him out for a meal at Taco Bell, saying she wanted to pick his brain about the case. When Bradford wasn’t looking, she snatched his cola straw. She then sent the straw to a crime lab for DNA testing, which connected Bradford to the rapes.

“It was a shot in the dark,” Hanna said. “It paid off.”

And despite the detective’s ploy, Bradford’s attorney said Monday that he believes that the evidence was legally gathered.

“We had every reason to believe the evidence would be allowed at trial,” said Donald T. Barkemeyer. Police “did not unreasonably seize or delay Mr. Bradford. He voluntarily had the soda with the cops. They were tricky. But they weren’t illegal.”

Bradford was sentenced Monday to two life terms in prison plus 52 years for attacking a 24-year-old woman at her Brea home in 1998 and a 19-year-old woman at an apartment complex last year. In each case, he slipped through an unlocked door in the middle of the night.

Hanna said she linked the two rapes after the second victim said her attacker reeked of smoke and also recalled how a chain-smoker who lived in the same apartment complex frequently stared in the direction of her home.

After identifying Bradford as the suspect, Hanna discovered he used to live in the neighborhood where the other attack took place. That woman confirmed that her attacker was a smoker.

Hanna asked Bradford for his help as a possible witness and arranged to meet him at a Taco Bell in Santa Ana.

Hanna said Bradford “was trying to point me away from him. He was giving me false leads.”

After Bradford finished his soda, Hanna got him a refill, replacing his straw and, on her way out, handing the old one to a detective disguised as an employee.