Santa Ana Man Held in Rape Case of Woman at Home for the Disabled

A Santa Ana man was arrested Tuesday on suspicion of rape in the case of a mentally disabled woman who became pregnant and gave birth last month at a board-and-care home where the man lived and worked.

Santa Ana police arrested Robert Rogelio Rios, 45, at the Camden Westview Care Home on West Camden Place in connection with the rape of a 30-year-old woman, who was in his care and who officials said has the mental capacity of a 2-year-old.

The home has since been closed, and authorities are in the process of revoking its license.

“This is horrific, and we are taking it very, very seriously,” said Blanca Barna, a spokeswoman for the California Department of Social Services, which licenses board-and-care homes. “These facilities that we license for people are where they live. To be violated and hurt in a place where you should feel safe is very serious.”

Further disciplinary action may be taken against other employees based on the outcome of the state’s investigation, Blanca said.

Police became aware of the situation April 19, when Rios’ wife, who also worked as a live-in caregiver at the facility, brought the mentally disabled woman to Fountain Valley Community Hospital, along with a plastic bag containing a dead baby boy.

According to court documents, the woman told investigators she discovered the baby, later determined to have been stillborn at about seven months, while changing an adult diaper on the resident, for whom she and her husband had provided care for nearly a year. Unaware the resident had been pregnant, the woman said, she contacted a supervisor--who told her to call 911--and her husband, who was out of town at the time. He told his wife to “place the fetus in a plastic bag” and put it at “another location,” court documents state.

The caregiver told authorities she put the bag in a cardboard box in the garage but later changed her mind and took both the stillborn baby and the resident to the hospital.

Rios was arrested after DNA tests matched his blood with that of the dead baby, said Sgt. Raul Luna, a spokesman for the Santa Ana Police Department.

The case is being treated as a rape because, despite the resident’s age, under state law, “She doesn’t have the mental capacity to give consensual sex,” Luna said.

Rios, whose bail has been set at $100,000, is to be arraigned Thursday.

“We’re also looking at other female patients to make sure that they are not victims as well,” Luna said.