UPDATE: Alleged El Dorado Hills Rape Victim Ready To Face Suspect 13 Years Later
EL DORADO HILLS (CBS13) — A man wanted for raping a teenage girl 13 years ago was tracked down in New Jersey on Monday, and his alleged victim is ready to see him brought to justice.
"I was raped when I was 14," the young lady, now in her 20s, told CBS13 on Monday night. "For a long time I was really scared to tell my story, to tell anyone. I didn't think people would believe me and I didn't tell anybody, so I kept it a secret for a very long time."
The suspect, Pasquale Patrick Senatore, is accused of raping the girls several times in 1998. When she finally went forward in 2002 and investigators with the El Dorado County Sheriff's Department went to question Senatore, he had vanished without a trace.
"You trust this person, it's a parental figure," the alleged victim said.
Investigators say while living with the girl's mother in a quite El Dorado Hills neighborhood, Senatore repeatedly raped the teenager, keeping it from her mother and younger siblings.
She says she lived with the secret until it become too much to bear. "Until I finally met with a counselor and shared my story," she said.
She was in high school at the time. She lived with horror into adulthood.
"I didn't know any better," she said. "I was abused. I was raped."
Almost a decade later, the U.S. Marshals Service got a tip that Senatore was hiding out in the New Jersey area.
"We conducted a rolling surveillance, at which time they did determine the target was Senatore," said Deputy Frank Newsom with the U.S. Marshal's office in Sacramento. "They took him into custody without any incident."
That was welcome news for neighbors in El Dorado Hills.
"As a mom with kids, I think it's really great they found this guy," one neighbor said.
The alleged victim said seing Senatore's photo was a jolt.
"I hadn't seen his face and it was plastered on one of the websites and it shocked me," she said.
Soon she'll see his face in person.
"It's tough, but I think that I'm ready," she said. "I think that I'm prepared to face this and fight it because it's a cause worth fighting for."
She believes her faith and family will see her through.
"And now I know I have an awesome support system of people that will be there for me sitting in that courtroom just supporting me," she said.
Senatore will be extradited back to El Dorado County where he will face his charges of forcible lewd acts on a child.
