A former City College student was arrested Wednesday, Nov. 7, on charges of raping a 20-year-old woman last spring.
Police say Raul Antonio Yescas, 20, lured his victim into a downtown bathroom on April 14, 2011, raped her and fled the scene. The victim called the police, but the case yielded no suspects and was placed on inactive status.
According to a prepared statement released by the Santa Barbara Police Department, Yescas was arrested five months ago in connection with a residential burglary. DNA acquired at that time led police to Yescas.
“His DNA was found in the collection of evidence from the rape, but his DNA profile was not put into the database until after he was arrested for burglary,” Seargent Riley Harwood said. “If he had not been arrested for that burglary we would still have an unsolved case.”
Yescas denied ever having contact with the victim prior to being presented with evidence to the contrary, police said. He then admitted to being with the victim and having sex with her, but claimed it was consensual.
He was booked at the Santa Barbara County Jail on $100,000 bail. Currently he remains in custody, according to Santa Barbara Custody records.
According to the Santa Barbara County District Attorney’s office, Yescas pled not guilty in court on Nov. 9. He is scheduled for a preliminary hearing on Nov. 27.
Police reported that they responded to a call of rape investigation at 11:49 a.m. April 14, 2011, at the Santa Barbara Amtrak Station. The investigation revealed that the victim was waiting at a bus stop at UCSB around 9 a.m. when she met Yescas and was befriended by him.
According to the police, they took the bus together to the MTD Transit Center. Here, Yescas convinced the victim to walk with him instead of taking a connecting bus to the Amtrak station. They were walking southbound toward the train station when the victim informed Yescas that she needed to use the restroom.
Police said he led her to a restroom atop the Paseo Nuevo Mall. She entered and Yescas waited outside until three minutes later, he entered, forcefully raped the victim and fled, according to the police statement.
The investigation included a forensic medical examination of the victim from which evidence was sent to the California Department of Justice Crime Lab for analysis. After exhausting all investigative leads, the case was placed on inactive status and left unsolved.
Five months later, Yescas and others were arrested for a residential burglary in Goleta. As a result, he was placed on probation and had to submit a DNA sample to the Santa Barbara County Probation Department. It was entered into a national DNA index.
A police statement reports that seven months after the alleged rape, the Crimes Against Persons Unit was notified by the California Department of Justice that body fluid not belonging to the victim had been found among the initial evidence gathered.
In response to being asked why it took seven months for the Department of Justice Crime Lab to find the body fluid, Sergeant Hardwood said, “I think that is kind of standard given the volume of their work load and the way they prioritize cases. This is a case that they didn’t know for certain that they had anything there. They probably prioritized cases that they know are going to court ahead of the case where there’s that uncertainty.”
On Oct. 16, 2012, the Crimes Against Persons Unit was notified that Yescas’ DNA profile matched that of the body fluid from the rape victim, according to police reports.
Yescas’ last enrollment at City College was Summer of 2011.
