Convicted Santa Rosa Rapist Gets 75 Years To Life
SANTA ROSA (BCN) -- A Santa Rosa man was sentenced to 75 years to life in prison Wednesday in connection with the kidnapping and rapes of three women in 2006 and 2009.
Rogelio Carlos-Zaragoza, 25, was convicted on Aug. 17 of eight felonies related to the abduction and rapes of three women on June 16 and July 28, 2006, and July 24, 2009, according to the Sonoma County District Attorney's Office.
All of the crimes occurred in Santa Rosa and involved a second suspect, the district attorney's office said.
In at least one case - the 2009 incident - the second suspect was Carlos-Zaragoza's brother, 36-year-old Leonel Carlos-Zaragoza, prosecutors said. He was convicted of kidnapping and rape in concert and is scheduled to be sentenced on Oct. 20.
In that case, the 18-year-old victim had left her father's house after an argument and had walked to downtown Santa Rosa.
Prosecutors said she was kidnapped at knifepoint by Leonel Carlos-Zaragoza as she walked back home on Dutton Avenue and was thrown into a car driven by Rogelio Carlos-Zaragoza.
Rogelio Carlos-Zaragoza drove north on U.S. Highway 101 as his brother raped the woman in the backseat, according to the district attorney's office.
California Highway Patrol Officer Marcus Hawkins tried to pull over the car, but Rogelio Carlos-Zaragoza allegedly led the CHP on a chase to the Mark West Springs Road area north of Santa Rosa.
The brothers then allegedly fled on foot but were arrested, and the victim identified them as the suspects.
More than three years earlier, on June 16, 2006, Rogelio Carlos-Zaragoza and another, unknown, suspect agreed to give a woman a ride to Mendocino Avenue in Santa Rosa, but instead drove her to a winery where he and three other suspects allegedly beat and raped her, prosecutors said.
On July 28, 2006, a woman got into a car with Rogelio Carlos-Zaragoza after she asked if he knew where to get drugs, prosecutors said.
Rogelio Carlos-Zaragoza and two other suspects drove the victim to a winery where they raped her, according to the district attorney's office.
Both 2006 victims reported the crimes but the cases remained unsolved for three years.
Rogelio Carlos-Zaragoza was convicted of rape in concert during a kidnapping and false imprisonment in connection with the July 28, 2006, incident.
Rogelio Carlos-Zaragoza's DNA matched DNA samples taken in all three rapes, and his brother's DNA matched a sample taken in the 2009 sexual assault, according to the district attorney's office.
Both of the 2006 rape victims addressed Rogelio Carlos-Zaragoza in court Wednesday. They asked Judge Gnoss to sentence him to the maximum prison term, three 25-year-to life sentences to run consecutively.
"You are the type of person that needs to be locked away," Jane Doe 2 told Carlos-Zaragoza. "To even think about raping someone makes you a monster."
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