Culver City Man Charged With Keeping, Raping Girl With Autism In Home For 3 Weeks
LOS ANGELES (CBSLA.com) — A Culver City man was charged Thursday with keeping a 15-year-old girl with autism in his home and sexually assaulting her over three weeks, the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office said.
Samuel Robert Duran Jr. appeared in court Thursday for arraignment. News cameras were allowed in the courtroom, but Duran's court-appointed attorney moved to block her client from the cameras as soon as he came out of holding.
Prosecutors asked for Duran's bail to be set at $14.2 million, but the judge said the highest he could set it by law was $12 million.
Duran is facing a dozen charges, including three counts of rape, six counts of forced oral copulation and three counts of forced digital penetration. The criminal complaint, which describes crimes that happened between March 25 and April 13, includes allegations of tying and binding, according to Deputy District Attorney Damare Theriot with the sex crimes division.
The girl disappeared from her Mar Vista home on March 24 and was rescued Monday by LAPD officers after she managed to call her foster mother's cell phone and ask for help. That call was traced to Duran's home, where the girl was found with several men, prosecutors said.
If convicted, Duran faces up to life in state prison.
