| For Immediate Release Case # 08HF0524 March 18, 2008 |
Susan Kang Schroeder Public Affairs Counsel Office: 714-347-8408 Cell: 714-292-2718 Farrah Emami |
MAN CHARGED WITH RAPE FOR ATTACKING
18-YEAR-OLD WOMAN AND FLEEING FROM
POLICE IN IRVINE CAR CHASE
NEWPORT BEACH – A La Puente man was charged this morning with raping an 18-year-old Irvine woman and fleeing from police in an Irvine car chase. Miguel Angel Romero, 27, is charged with felony counts of forcible rape, forcible oral copulation, and aggravated assault on a peace officer. Romero is also charged with misdemeanors count of evading a peace officer, resisting and obstructing a peace officer, and aggravated trespassing of an inhabited dwelling. The defendant has a prior serious felony allegation for a 2002 residential burglary strike conviction. He is being held on $1 million bail and faces a maximum sentence of 39 years and eight months in state prison if convicted. He is scheduled to be arraigned, April 23, 2008 at 9:00 a.m. in Department H-2, Harbor Justice Center, Newport Beach.
On March 15, 2008, Romero is accused of meeting 18-year-old Jane Doe at the Block in Orange and offering to drive her home to her Irvine apartment. Once at Jane Doe’s apartment, the defendant is accused of over powering the victim, pulling off her clothes, and forcibly orally copulating and raping the victim while Jane Doe struggled to get away. The defendant then fled the scene and Jane Doe called the police.
Responding officers located the defendant in his car and attempted to pull Romero over. The defendant is accused of not completing stopping his vehicle, turning his car and driving toward a police officer who had exited his patrol car, and forcing the officer to jump out of the way to avid being hit by the car. The defendant is accused of fleeing the scene and leading police on a car chase before getting out of his vehicle and fleeing on foot.
Romero is accused of breaking into a home to hide from police and was later arrested in the backyard of a nearby home.
Deputy District Attorney Tony Ferrentino of the Sexual Assault Unit is prosecuting this case.
###