Orange County prosecutors and Santa Ana police will reveal details Friday on how a suspect was charged in the kidnapping and rape of a 6-year-old girl in Santa Ana seven years ago.
Francisco Javier Lopez, 45, of Montebello, was charged Tuesday with a dozen felony counts that could result in a life prison term without the possibility of parole if he’s convicted.
Lopez, who’s being held without bail, is charged with five counts of forcible lewd and lascivious acts with a child younger than 14, three counts of sexual penetration of a child younger than 11, and one count each of kidnapping to commit a sex offense, oral copulation of a child younger than 11, sexual intercourse with a child younger than 11 and dissuading a witness.
He also faces sentencing enhancement allegations of causing bodily injury to a child younger than 14 and aggravated kidnapping.
Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer and representatives of the Santa Ana Police Department and California Attorney General’s Office will hold a joint news conference Friday “to discuss how a statewide effort by local and state agencies led to Lopez’s capture,” according to the District Attorney’s Office.
The girl was abducted July 15, 2012, while she was playing with a 4-year-old boy in front of an apartment complex in the 1400 block of South Townsend Street between 6 p.m. and 6:30 p.m. on a Sunday night, Santa Ana police reported in 2012.
The suspect parked his car, walked up to the girl and said, “I have something for you to give to your mother,” before he grabbed her and took her away, police said.
The man drove to a parking lot in the area, where he sexually assaulted the child, police said. About 90 minutes to two hours later, she was dropped off in a neighborhood where the people who were looking for her found her, police said.