Not guilty pleas in alleged gang rape

Michelle Durand:

Four men — including one 16-year-old boy — pleaded not guilty Wednesday to gang-raping and viciously beating a 21-year-old woman at a Half Moon Bay beach trail after falsely offering her a ride to San Jose.

Edgar Cardelas, 18, Anastasio Flores, 18, Celestrino Guillermo, 21 and Gerardo Resendiz, 16, are each charged with multiple counts of sexual assault on May 29. They all return to court Aug. 8 to set a preliminary hearing date.

Through a Spanish interpreter, each pleaded not guilty to kidnapping during the course of a sexual assault, gang rape, assault with a deadly weapon, terrorist threats and intimidating a witness.

The group offered the woman a ride to San Jose which she accepted, according to police reports. Instead, they took her to Miramontes Point Beach Trail and repeatedly raped her, prosecutors claim. The woman suffered multiple severe injuries, including facial fractures.

Authorities did not disclose if the woman and the suspects knew each other previous to the alleged attack.

Prosecutors are charging all suspects as adults, including the 16-year-old boy. Under California’s Proposition 21 law, the District Attorney’s Office has the discretion to do so in grave cases and the local office has invoked it a number of times in sexual assaults with teen suspects.

If convicted, each defendant faces life in prison. In sexual assault cases of certain natures, convictions and the one-strike they carry are enough to bring a life sentence.

Each defendant remains in custody in lieu of $1 million bail.

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