A Lincoln Heights man is scheduled to be arraigned Friday on charges stemming from the alleged sexual assault of an unconscious woman who later discovered that photos of the attack had been posted on Facebook.
Bryan Lizarraga, 23, is charged with a felony count of sexual penetration by foreign object of an unconscious victim and a misdemeanor count of sexual battery. Another man, 23-year-old Pedro Garcia of Glendale, is charged with the same counts. He pleaded not guilty March 24.
According to Glendale Police, Garcia and Lizarraga attended a friend’s birthday party on March 8, and afterward, they offered a ride home to a 22-year- old woman. During the party, the woman had been given a drink in a plastic cup, but it’s unclear who gave her the drink.
The woman told police she lost consciousness in Garcia’s car and awoke the next morning inside the vehicle, still dizzy and disoriented.
Police said the woman later discovered that the suspects had taken photos of her while she was unconscious in the vehicle, including some showing the suspects kissing her bare chest. Some of the photos were posted by the suspects on Facebook, police said.
According to police, detectives have found additional photos of the pair showing them with a still-unidentified woman who also appeared to be unconscious. The photos show the woman with her face in the crotch of one suspect and her hand on the crotch of the other, police said.
Both suspects are being held in lieu of $120,000 bail. They both face more than eight years in prison if convicted, according to the District Attorney’s Office.
Garcia is due back in court Tuesday in Burbank.
—City News Service