Five Oceano men were arrested on April 22 after Santa Maria Police responded to an alleged kidnapping with intent to rape early that morning.
Santa Maria Police were dispatched to West Main Street and Bonita School Road at about 2:30 a.m., where they found the five suspects detained by Guadalupe Police, according to the Santa Maria Police Department.
Two women reported to Santa Maria Police that they were standing outside an unidentified Santa Maria “nightclub” when the five suspects allegedly asked the women to go somewhere with them. When the women declined, the men reportedly grabbed the women and forced them into a nearby vehicle, according to the police department.
The men allegedly drove away with the women, and police say an eyewitness at the nightclub immediately called 911.
One of the women also managed to escape the car when it reached Main and Bonita, according to the department, and she called police.
Joel Verduzco Mendoza, 24; Salvador Cerna Mendoza, 39; Jose Mendoza Cerna, 30; Jose Octavio Perez, 56; and Jorge Alvarez Manzano, 53, were all arrested and booked into Santa Barbara County Jail on suspicion of kidnapping with the intent to commit rape.
The Santa Maria Police Department could not be reached for additional comment before the Sun‘s press time.
This article appears in Apr 26 – May 3, 2018.
