A man who raped an intoxicated teenager who wandered away from the Mid-State Fair last summer was sentenced to six years in prison.
District Attorney Dan Dow said that Jose Francis Hernandezgarcia of Paso Robles has been convicted by his plea and sentenced to serve six years in state prison.
The crime occurred at night in a residential neighborhood near the Paso Robles Event Center where the teenage victim had attended the California Mid-State Fair with her friends. The victim was alone, separated from her friends without her phone or wallet and was crying and worried about how to get home.
The 26-year-old man observed the teenager was intoxicated and crying and spoke to her before he then brought her inside his home instead of offering to help get her home safely or to find her friends. Hernandezgarcia then raped the victim when she was in a state of intoxication, unaware of what was happening to her, and unable to resist his assault.
“This crime of rape was a violent act, even though California law does not classify rape of an intoxicated victim as a violent crime and therefore the law, under Prop 57, allows them to be released early from prison as ‘non-violent’ offenders,” said District Attorney Dan Dow. “Our criminal and victim justice system should equally seek justice for victims and not just for the criminal offenders and that is why I urge our legislators to pass AB 229 that will finally classify ALL rape as a violent crime.”
