A 25-year-old felon who beat a woman with a bottle, knocking her unconscious to perpetrate a sexual offense, pleaded guilty Tuesday to assault with a deadly weapon.
Gabriel Ray Hernandez of Highland admitted the felony count under a plea agreement with the Riverside County District Attorney’s Office. In exchange for his admission, prosecutors agreed to drop four related charges against Hernandez.
The plea deal was announced during a pretrial hearing Tuesday before Superior Court Judge Dwight Moore, who scheduled a sentencing hearing for July 14 at the Riverside Hall of Justice.
Hernandez remains free on a $280,000 bond.
He met the victim, identified in court documents only as “A.M.,” via social media, and the two connected for a date on the night of Aug. 3, 2024, when the defendant drove to her residence in the 27000 block of Barcelona Drive in Temescal Valley and picked her up, according to sheriff’s Investigator Soraya Pytell.
After Hernandez got the woman alone in the area of Horsethief Canyon and Mountain roads, he became aggressive, striking her repeatedly with a vodka bottle, Pytell said.
The victim “suffered significant trauma,” she said.
Court papers alleged that after the woman was knocked out, Hernandez sexually assaulted her.
After the victim regained consciousness, she got away from the defendant and reported what had happened.
She sought medical attention and was hospitalized for an undisclosed period.
Detectives soon afterward identified Hernandez as the assailant, and he was taken into custody without incident two weeks later on North Arrowhead Avenue in San Bernardino.
Court papers show he has prior adult and juvenile felony convictions, including an assault conviction out of San Bernardino County.