3 Men Enter No-Contest Pleas in Abduction, Rape of Woman

Three men who prosecutors said abducted and gang-raped a 20-year-old North Hollywood woman last year pleaded no contest Friday.

Ricardo Moran, 22; Julio Gonzales, 20, and Jorge Chacon, 19, all of Glendale, entered the pleas to charges of rape in San Fernando Superior Court. They face maximum sentences of 8, 10 and 11 years, respectively.

The attack occurred the night of Aug. 7 when the victim and her boyfriend were walking along Victory Boulevard near Clybourn Avenue, Deputy Dist. Atty. Shellie Samuels said.

Three men ambushed the couple, beating the boyfriend and forcing the woman into a car at knifepoint, Los Angeles Police Detective George Armenta said. The woman was driven to an unknown location and was raped repeatedly, Samuels said. Afterward, Moran dropped off his associates and drove the victim to a motel where he raped her again, Samuels said.

Moran drove the woman back to the scene of the abduction, let her go and told her that he wanted to meet her there several days later, Samuels said.

The woman went to the police, who were waiting for Moran when he arrived at the meeting place, Samuels said. Once Moran was arrested, he implicated himself and the others, Samuels said.

A no-contest plea, while not an admission of guilt, is treated the same as a guilty plea by California courts for purposes of sentencing. Judge Malcolm H. Mackey is scheduled to sentence Chacon and Gonzales on Aug. 25 and Moran on Aug. 30.