Men Plead Not Guilty In 1999 Santa Ana Rape Of 11-Year-Old Girl
SANTA ANA (CBSLA.com) — Two 36-year-old men plead not guilty Friday to charges of raping an 11-year-old girl multiple times in Santa Ana in 1999.
Ismael Salgado of Chicago, who was arrested Oct. 14, and Jose Andres Plascencia, who was brought back to Orange County this week, face one count each of kidnapping to commit rape and five counts of rape, all felonies, according to police and court records.
Salgado and Plascencia are accused of picking up the 11-year-old as she walked home with a friend near Jerome Center in Santa Ana around 5:30 p.m. Feb. 3, 1999, according to Santa Ana police Cpl. Anthony Bertagna.
Police say the two men pulled up alongside the girls and tried to talk them into the car. The 11-year-old girl said she didn't want to, prompting one of the men to grab her and force her into the vehicle along with her friend, Bertagna said.
The friend managed to get away, but when the other girl tried to make her escape, Bertagna said she was dragged back into the car by her hair.
The men drove to a gas station near Raitt Street and Edinger Avenue and fueled up the car, while one of the men held his hand over the girl's mouth so she couldn't call for help, Bertagna said, then sexually assaulted the girl in a "secluded" parking lot in Santa Ana and another parking area.
Detectives were not able to make any arrests at the time, but investigators reopened the case recently and submitted DNA evidence to the county's crime lab, Bertagna said.
A DNA match was made with Salgado, who lived in Santa Ana for most of his life but recently moved to Chicago. DNA evidence also pointed to another man, who was not in the system, Bertagna said, so detectives began looking at "known associates" of his at the time of the attack and narrowed in on Plascencia when the victim identified him from a photograph.
Plascencia, who is lives in Laveen, Ariz., a suburb of Phoenix, was placed under surveillance, Bertagna said. Investigators collected a discarded water bottle Plascencia drank from at a local gym and sent it to the crime lab, which Bertagna said matched his DNA to the evidence collected at the 1999 rapes.
Salgado was arrested at his home in Chicago on Oct. 5. He made his first court appearance Oct. 17.
Plascencia was arrested Nov. 6 at a border crossing in Nogales, Ariz., Bertagna said.
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