Santa Paula on the list of places victim taken during alleged kidnapping
August 18, 2000
By Peggy Kelly
Santa Paula News
Santa Paula was on the list of places to drive around in when an Oxnard man allegedly kidnapped his ex-girlfriend and drove her around for hours before she managed to escape. The victim told police that the suspect repeatedly threatened to harm her and tried to force her out of the car while traveling up to 65 mph during the ordeal.
The incident occurred Wednesday, Aug. 9 when the unidentified victim was driving in the 700 block of East Third Street at about 10:20 p.m. when a vehicle driven by Rogelio Reyes Lopez, 21, drove his car in front of hers and forced the woman to stop.The victim told police that Lopez told her he would kill her if she didn’t cooperate and then got behind the wheel of her car. As Lopez drove the woman’s vehicle around Ventura and Santa Paula he allegedly told her that if he couldn’t have her nobody could. The victim told police that Lopez was traveling at speeds of up to 65 mph and tried to throw her from the vehicle several times but she managed to fight him off.Finally, Lopez drove into the Ventura Harbor area and a suspicious Harbor Patrol officer approached the car. . .that’s when the victim made her escape and Lopez fled the scene on foot.The victim suffered minor lacerations and abrasions during the ordeal but was emotionally traumatized, said an Oxnard Police Department spokesman.
Lopez, a suspected Oxnard gang member with friends affiliated with gangs in Santa Paula, was arrested without incident Thursday afternoon in Oxnard.Lopez, who has a past criminal history, was arrested on suspicion of attempted murder, carjacking, kidnapping and making terroristic threats; his bail has been set at $510,000.