Possible life sentence added to gang rape case

The criminal complaint against three men charged with kidnapping and gang-raping a 15-year-old Santa Rosa girl was amended Wednesday to include enhancements that could trigger potential life sentences if they are convicted.

Judge Elliot Daum also increased the men’s bail to $1 million each with the additional allegations.

Speaking through interpreters, Oscar Anibal Magana-Aristando, 20, Salvador Armando Rivas, 18, and Alejandro Corado, 30, entered not guilty pleas to all charges and enhancements.

A fourth person, a mentally disabled 13-year-old boy who is related to Rivas, has also been charged in the kidnapping and rape. He is being held at Juvenile Hall pending a hearing next week on whether he is mentally competent to stand trial.

Two court-ordered mental health evaluations have determined that he is unable to participate in his defense, his attorney said. A special-education student in middle school, he is said to function at the level of an 8-year-old.

In adult court Wednesday, prosecutor Dan Cohan announced he had amended the original complaint against the adults to include enhancements that could trigger potential 25-years-to-life terms.

One enhancement alleges that when the defendants kidnapped the girl, the movement substantially increased the risk of harm, Chief Deputy District Attorney Spencer Brady said. A second one alleges that the defendants “administered a controlled substance” to the victim during the crimes.

The four defendants are accused of forcing the girl into an SUV on the night of April 6 as she was walking from a friend’s house to a relative’s house between 7:30 p.m. and 8 p.m. Police said they drove her from the Dutton Avenue and Coffey Lane area to Comstock Middle School and raped and assaulted her.

The men are accused of holding her down as others raped her. Investigators said the men made the girl ingest some kind of white powder. She told police she was dropped off about 9 p.m. in an east Santa Rosa grocery store parking lot.

The crime was reported a few days later. Police said she did not know her attackers and was likely a random target.

With the additional enhancements, Cohan asked Daum to increase the men’s bail from $400,000 each. The men also have no-bail immigration holds because they are believed to be in the country illegally from Central America.

“It’s fairly substantive now,” Cohan said. “But this does add a life term.”

Daum set bail at $1 million each, a ruling greeted by soft cheers of “yes!” from three relatives of the alleged victim. Bail will be reviewed at the next hearing, set for June 12.

The boy is set to be in Juvenile Court on Tuesday, where the judge is expected to rule on his competency.