Soledad man convicted of raping unconscious teen

SOLEDAD, Calif. (KION) A Soledad man, identified as 64-year-old Raul Arroyo, has been convicted by a jury of lewd acts with a child when she was between the ages of 14 and 15 and raping the teen when she was unconscious, according to the Monterey County District Attorney's Office.

The DA's Office said the victim was 13 years old in 2014 when she and her four siblings were removed from their parents by CPS because of physically and sexually abusive behavior displayed by their father. At first, the siblings were separated and placed in foster care, but eventually, they were placed with a biological relative, Raul Arroyo.

In fall 2015, the victim said Arroyo's behavior changed and he began complimenting her looks and touching her in ways that made her uncomfortable. In 2016, she said he made sexual advances toward her several times, and in May of that year, investigators said he raped her.

The victim said that in the months leading up to the rape, she was afraid to report the behavior because of the negative experiences she had after being separated from her siblings after they reported their father's abuse. Despite that fear, she told some people about the abuse she experienced, according to the DA's Office, and eventually, she told her NJROTC captain at Soledad High School with encouragement from friends. The captain reported the incident to the police.

Soledad police officers took the victim's blankets and bedliners later in the day when she said the sheets had not been washed since the rape, and testing showed that multiple stains contained Arroyo's DNA.