2 Van Nuys Teens Receive 6 Years for Raping Girl

A 17-year-old boy wept Tuesday as he and another former Birmingham High School student were sentenced to six years in prison for raping a 16-year-old girl who passed out at a party after they ditched school.

Alejandro Zamora and Jose Sanchez, 18, both of Van Nuys, pleaded no contest in August to one count of rape of an unconscious person.

Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Michael Hoff gave the defendants the maximum penalty under their plea agreement.

Hoff said Sanchez lacked remorse and Zamora was an “instigator” of the crimes.

Authorities say about a dozen students skipped classes last Dec. 1 and went to the Van Nuys home of a classmate, whose parents were at work.

The victim lost consciousness after drinking alcohol and was carried to a bedroom. She was then raped by at least four party-goers, authorities said.

After several hours, a call was made to the girl’s parents, who took her to the hospital. She did not remember being sexually assaulted, but a medical examination revealed evidence of multiple rapes, authorities said.

“This was a victim who needed help, and instead the defendants . . . harmed her,” Deputy Dist. Atty. Eduards R. Abele said.

Abele said it was “an appropriate sentence given the vulnerability of the victim and the [defendants’] outrageous conduct.”

On Tuesday, the victim sat in court crying as the defendants’ mothers and a chaplain at the juvenile detention facility where the teens have been held since their arrest last year asked the court for leniency.

Under the plea deal, the youths could have been sentenced to a minimum of three years.

During the hearing, defense attorney Marc Lewinstein told the victim that Zamora “wants you to know how genuinely sorry he is.”

The attorney said Zamora had cried when he read letters sent to the judge from the victim and her younger sister.

Attempting to counter allegations from friends and family of the victim, Lewinstein said Zamora “is not an animal. He is a good person who did a horrible, horrible thing.”

Zamora, who committed the crime at 16, sobbed throughout the hearing. A bailiff repositioned his cuffed hands at one point so he could wipe his face with tissue.

At Sanchez’s hearing, his mother asked her son’s victim for forgiveness.

“As awful as we are feeling, I am a woman and I understand what she is going through. I only want to tell you, please forgive us for everything,” Lucero Majire said through a Spanish-language interpreter.

In a letter to the court, the victim, now 18, acknowledged she acted irresponsibly by cutting classes and drinking excessively. She said she is especially hurt because she was victimized by people she considered her friends.

“Having this torturous event occur to me and not know yet what actually happened that day has really left me in a state of grief and disbelief,” she wrote.

She said she wants to start a program to help young rape victims.

Earlier this month, Sanchez’s brother, Nathaniel Sanchez, 19, of Van Nuys was sentenced to four years in prison after pleading no contest to one felony count of assault with intent to rape.

A 14-year-old boy pleaded guilty last December to accessory to rape. He was sentenced to the maximum of three years in custody.