Two homeless men who in February pleaded no contest to raping a
13-year-old girl at Christmas Hill Park in November 2009 will be
sentenced this month.
Two homeless men who in February pleaded no contest to raping a 13-year-old girl at Christmas Hill Park in November 2009 will be sentenced this month.
Cresencio Evarado Blas, 30, and Benancio Quinones, 50, each pleaded no contest to one count of child rape and one count of furnishing a controlled substance to a minor Feb. 4, according to court documents.
The two transients, who lived in a makeshift encampment in the park, were charged with raping the girl twice and giving her marijuana and cocaine on the afternoon of Nov. 18, 2009.
Blas will be sentenced March 7 at the South County Courthouse in Morgan Hill. He faces six years in prison, said Deputy District Attorney Stuart Scott.
Quinones, who faces nine years in prison, will be sentenced March 21 in the same courtroom, Scott said.
Scott said both potentially faced 20-year prison terms if the case went to trial, but the prosecution agreed to lesser sentences as part of the plea agreement to avoid having the victim testify.
Scott said she was “very emotionally disturbed” by the incident.
“That was something we took into consideration,” he said.
Quinones received a harsher sentence because his past included “a little more significant criminal history,” Scott said.
About a decade ago, Quinones was accused on several occasions of inappropriate contact with children in Santa Cruz County, Scott said. He was never charged, however, as the claims were “probably difficult to prove.”
Blas and Quinones are Mexican citizens in the United States illegally and will be deported following their prison terms, Scott said.
The two had been charged with four additional counts of child rape and one count of furnishing marijuana to a minor, but those charges were dropped as part of the plea, according to court documents.
Scott said the victim had “a very difficult childhood,” and has been in therapy at times since the incident.
According to testimony from the victim included in court documents, she walked to the park after getting into a fight at school and met the two men near the park’s red barn. The three of them then walked back to the encampment, where the victim smoked weed and snorted cocaine with Blas and Quinones, according to court documents.
They then pulled the victim into their tent, tied her up and raped her simultaneously, according to court documents.
After being raped, the victim said she began walking near the Gilroy High School baseball field where she met “Jasmine,” a black female about 20 years old. The victim followed the woman home, where she stayed for two hours while they kissed in the woman’s bed, according to court documents.
The victim then returned to the park because she wanted to smoke more marijuana. She met Blas and Quinones again and asked to use a cell phone to call for a ride. According to court documents, they told her she had to do “something” in return for using the phone, and she agreed to follow the men back to their encampment, where they raped her a second time. The men then allowed her to use the cell phone which she used to call a children’s home where she was staying to ask for a ride home. An adult at the home called police to report the victim had been sexually assaulted.
Police arrested the men at their encampment after interviewing the victim, according to the Gilroy Police Department.
According to interviews with the GPD included in court documents, Blas and Quinones attempted to pin the blame on one another, both stating individually that neither of them had sex with the victim.
Blas said Quinones and the victim were alone when he left to buy beer. When returned, he saw Quinones and the victim having sex “like a couple does to have kids,” according to police. He said he did attempt to have sex with the victim but was unable to because he was under the influence of drugs.
Quinones told police he was either asleep or drunk when the alleged rape occurred. When asked about the victim, he said, “What girl?” but later said he gave her a blanket and fell asleep while she stayed with Blas, according to court documents. He then admitted to allowing her to use his cell phone, but called Blas a liar when informed of his differing testimony, police said.
Scott said it wasn’t uncommon for suspects in that situation to try to blame the other one for the incident. He said medical examinations of the victim verified her claims that she had been sexually assaulted.
