A 52-year-old man was behind the wheel of his car, punching a woman he helped abduct off a Huntington Beach street while his friend sexually assaulted her, a prosecutor told jurors Thursday, whereas the defendant’s attorney said her client was guilty of kidnapping, but not sexual assault.
Florentino Contreras Bacilio of Long Beach is charged with kidnapping to commit a sex offense and two counts of sexual penetration by foreign object and force with sentencing enhancements for kidnapping to commit a sex crime, all felonies.
Co-defendant Angel Lopezevaristo, 34, pleaded guilty Nov. 22, 2024, to kidnapping to commit a sexual assault, forcible rape and sexual penetration by foreign object with sentencing enhancements for kidnapping to commit a sex offense and inflicting great bodily injury in a sex offense, according to court records. He was sentenced to 30 years to life in prison.
The victim was a 27-year-old woman who “loved going downtown” in Huntington Beach, and she especially enjoyed walking there since she lived nearby, Deputy District Attorney Thomas Farnell said.
“She always walked because she always felt safe,” Farnell said.
On the night she was abducted June 6, 2021, she went to celebrate a birthday with friends, Farnell said.
“They went to a number of restaurants just to hang out and have a good time with friends,” Farnell said. “She had four or five drinks, but she was not drunk.”
Bacilio and Lopezevaristo worked at a Louis Burger restaurant in Long Beach and decided after work to also head to Huntington Beach to drink, Farnell said.
“They walked around, got drinks, had a few at bars and then went to buy some beer and got in their vehicle,” Farnell said.
As they were exiting the parking garage, they saw the victim having an argument with her boyfriend on a corner. The woman was on the phone with her ex-boyfriend when the two grabbed her, Farnell said.
The prosecutor showed jurors surveillance video of the men dragging her into the Chevrolet Traverse as she screamed for help just before midnight, Farnell said.
“These were two strangers,” he said. “They didn’t know (the victim). They saw her, wanted her and just took her.”
The victim continued to struggle with the men in the vehicle, “fighting for her life,” Farnell said.
She was “repeatedly punched in the face,” he said.
She was “fighting and screaming while she was being sexually assaulted,” he said.
Ultimately, she was “strangled to the point she passed out,” he said.
The next thing the woman remembered was waking up in the middle of Pacific Coast Highway, where she was dumped south of Warner Avenue, Farnell said.
She frantically waved to passing motorists for help, the prosecutor said. One of those passersby stopped and called for help, he said.
The woman was unable to identify her attackers, so police turned to surveillance video to get a partial license plate of the vehicle used in her abduction, Farnell said.
Bacilio’s “first interview (with police) was all lies,” he said.
Bacilio eventually said he drove away with the woman because “he was scared” and was “very angry” at his friend for assaulting the victim, Farnell said.
Bacilio’s attorney, Annie Rodriguez of the Orange County Public Defender’s Office, told jurors that her client “is before you a guilty man.”
The defense attorney said there was no doubt the woman was a victim of a “horrific” attack that “is every woman’s nightmare.”
But the defense attorney said Bacilio hardly knew Lopezevaristo. They worked together for a few months and occasionally “hung out.”
Bacilio had previously worked in Huntington Beach, so he was familiar with the area, Rodriguez said.
Bacilio downed 12 to 14 beers and was “vaping marijuana” that evening, she said.
When they approached the victim, she was asked if she wanted a ride, she said. “And, yes, they grabbed her, and yes, they pulled her into the car.” But Bacilio drove away from the scene because “he was scared.”
They drove for about five minutes on PCH and stop at Center Signal, Rodriguez said.
“She’s doing everything they can to get away from these men,” she said. “But (Bacilio) can’t see what is happening. … All he knows is he can hear (the victim) fight for her life.”
As she screamed for help, it “clicks” for Bacilio what is happening, so he pulled over, Rodriguez said.
“There was no plan to sexually assault” the victim, Rodriguez said.
Bacilio ensured the victim got out of the car. “At that point, either she is pushed out or she gets out on her own,” she said.
“She was only in the vehicle for about five minutes,” Rodriguez said.
The victim’s “memory is not perfect” about what happened, Rodriguez said. The victim said Bacilio punched her as he was driving, which, “you know that can’t be true.”
Bacilio is a “simple man with a third-grade education,” Rodriguez said.
Defense expert, Dr. Joseph Cervantes, is expected to testify the defendant has an “intellectual developmental disorder” as well as a “severe alcohol abuse disorder,” according to Rodriguez. The disorder makes it difficult for Bacilio to process information and make quick decisions, the defense attorney said.
“Mr. Bacilio is guilty, but he’s not guilty of kidnapping for a sexual assault,” Rodriguez said. “He never put his hands on (the victim) in the car.”