Man convicted of molesting San Benito County child charged in 1994 cold case kidnapping rape

SANTA CLARA, Calif. (KION-TV)- The Santa Clara County District Attorney's Office said through DNA evidence, they connected a convicted child molester to a 1994 kidnapping and rape of a store manager at the Oakridge Mall in 1994.

Thomas John Loguidice is serving 40 years in the California Department of Corrections for the sexual abuse of a child in San Benito County in 2012, said the district attorney's office.

On Jan. 13, 1994, just shortly before 10 a.m., a 21-year-old female store manager of the President Tuxedo store arrived to open the store. The district attorney's office claims Loguidice entered the showroom area and forced his victim to the nack storage room at knifepoint.

He then put his victim on the floor, bounded her wrists, and tied her to a pipe. After taking a small amount of cash from the register, he returned to sexually assault his bound victim before running away, said the district attorney's office.

 The San Jose Police Department exhausted several leads, and the case eventually went cold.

On Dec. 14, 2022, the Santa Clara County Grand Jury indicted Loguidice on one charge of kidnapping intending to commit robbery. The grand jury also found the crime involved using a deadly weapon, the threat of great bodily harm, and a high degree of callousness. 

Loguidice was not indicted for the sexual assault because the statute of limitations for that crime expired in 2000. 

Loguidice will be arraigned on Jan. 18 and faces life in prison on top of his current 40-year sentence.

“We don’t forget victims, and we don’t forgive violent crime,” DA Jeff Rosen said. “Our message to our community is that this Office will use advancing DNA forensics, detective work, and determination to seek justice. Our message to violent criminals is: “Don’t do it. You won’t get away with it.”