OXNARD : Man Pleads Guilty to Raping Girl, 14

An Oxnard man pleaded guilty to rape Monday in Ventura County Superior Court, admitting that he sexually assaulted a 14-year-old girl Oct. 3. Two other men are also charged in the incident.

Oscar Rivera, 23, pleaded guilty to charges of rape by force or fear, rape in concert with force and possession of cocaine. The three counts carry a combined maximum sentence of nine years in prison and fines of up to $20,000.

Rivera admitted to the crime because he risked a maximum 56-year prison sentence had he been tried and convicted of all of the charges against him, said Willard P. Wiksell, his attorney.

Originally, Wiksell said Rivera planned to defend himself by testifying that the girl consented to have sex with him. But that would have meant admitting the crime of having sexual intercourse with a minor, which carries a maximum three-year sentence, Wiksell said.

Wiksell said his client would also have been convicted of cocaine possession and faced an additional three-year penalty because police found cocaine in Rivera’s pocket when they arrested him.

Judge Steven Z. Perren ordered blood tests for the other defendants in the case--Oscar Ponce, 29, and Carlos Tamayo, 18--for use as evidence in the rape case. Their next court appearance is scheduled Jan. 2.

Prosecutors allege that the three men picked the girl up in a car and drove her to a field near Gonzales Road, west of Victoria Avenue, where they each raped her twice. Each man was charged with two counts of rape by force or fear and one count of kidnaping, rape in concert with force or violence, sodomy, oral copulation with a person under age 16, oral copulation in concert with force and a special allegation of kidnaping for sex.