Hunch Leads to Rape Suspect’s Arrest

A convicted burglar has been arrested on suspicion of raping 11 women in a series of attacks near the Long Beach Freeway after an El Monte police detective, acting on a hunch, obtained a sample of the man’s DNA.

Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca on Friday identified 23-year-old Daniel Sanchez of East Los Angeles as the “710 Freeway Corridor Serial Rapist,” whose alleged crime spree spanned more than two years, from Aug. 17, 2001, to last Oct. 30.

“When you meet him, he is passive, soft-spoken and timid,” Sgt. Dan Scott of the sheriff’s family crimes unit said of Sanchez, who lived with his mother and was the father of two young children with his 19-year-old girlfriend. “But he was a Jekyll and Hyde, a real monster.”

The part-time laborer and dishwasher allegedly struck day and night and severely beat some victims, Scott said. Some victims were attacked on the streets while others were stalked to their homes

Attacks were reported in Bell, Bell Gardens, Compton, El Monte, Long Beach, Lynwood and Paramount. The victims ranged in age from 11 to 40.

Sanchez was arrested in October and convicted of two burglaries, said Jane Robison, a spokeswoman for the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office.

El Monte police Det. David Vautrin asked Sanchez for a sample of his DNA after he was arrested Oct. 30.

A swab with his saliva was tested and run through a state computer DNA database. A backlog delayed the results for five months.

Baca and other officials said they hoped the arrest underscored the need to expand California’s DNA database to include every convicted felon in the state.

An initiative now in circulation would allow local agencies to collect DNA evidence from people arrested on suspicion of murder and rape and, beginning in 2009, from anyone arrested on suspicion of committing a felony.

“For the detectives and the criminalist it was like they hit the lottery,” Baca said. “This demonstrates the importance of DNA in solving some of the most horrendous of crimes.”