Police Say Rape Suspect Has Long Criminal Record

Since his arrest last month, more details have emerged about Simi Valley rape suspect Vincent Henry Sanchez that show a man with a nearly decade-long criminal history who authorities believe became increasingly violent.

Sanchez, 30, was accused of death threats by his estranged girlfriend as recently as last January, according to court documents.

He had been in trouble long before, however. Sanchez had a previous burglary conviction and had served time in prison for abusing the baby of a former girlfriend when they lived together in Lancaster in 1992.

But police and prosecutors believe Sanchez eventually graduated to more serious crimes. They paint a picture of a rapist who donned a ski mask, armed himself with a knife and for the past five years terrorized Simi Valley women by breaking into their homes and assaulting them.

Sanchez is also the chief suspect in the July 5 shooting death of 20-year-old Moorpark College student Megan Barroso. Authorities believe an AK47 assault rifle seized at Sanchez’s home may have been used to kill Barroso.

“We are looking at him as a possible suspect because the profile of some serial rapists shows a propensity to progress to more violent crimes,” Sheriff Bob Brooks said shortly after Sanchez’s arrest.

On Friday, Sanchez pleaded not guilty to 57 criminal counts, including sexual assault, burglary and kidnapping in connection with a crime spree that authorities said began in 1996.

Those who know him say Sanchez’s criminal history runs counter to the conservative, strait-laced upbringing he enjoyed as a teenager in Simi Valley.

Sanchez was one of eight children born to Margaret and Mariano Sanchez, who supported his family working in the construction business.

Sanchez’s mother and father appeared to be a loving couple, according to people who knew them. The couple were strict with their children. Margaret Sanchez and her daughters wore no makeup and dressed conservatively in long skirts. Television was not permitted in their home.

Vincent Sanchez, meanwhile, attended Royal High School, where he joined the wrestling team. He dated several classmates and girls in his neighborhood.

“I can’t wait to put my arms around you,” wrote one girl in a high school love letter Sanchez still kept among his belongings. “I love you.”

But Sanchez never graduated. He dropped out of Royal in his junior year and moved to Utah, where friends said the family has relatives.

By 1991, Sanchez had moved back to California, settling in Lancaster, to begin a career in construction, like his father, who eventually moved the family to Palmdale.

While in Lancaster the 21-year-old Sanchez became involved in his first stormy relationship.

Dona Conrad, then 17, was separated from her husband in 1991 when she began dating Sanchez. The couple moved in together. But things soured quickly, with fights often erupting over Conrad’s 1-year-old daughter.

Conrad told authorities that Sanchez often forbade her from feeding or clothing her baby, arguing that the child needed discipline. Sanchez said the infant “was spoiled, a brat and cried too much,” according to court documents.

In March 1992, Sanchez became enraged after he caught Conrad feeding the baby. Sanchez pushed Conrad to the floor and began choking her until she almost lost consciousness, according to court documents. Later, Sanchez picked up the baby and approached Conrad.

“Something is wrong with her,” Sanchez said as the baby’s eyes rolled back and she struggled to breathe. Conrad called 911 and the baby was rushed to Palmdale Hospital. Court records do not explain what happened to the baby. Conrad and Sanchez were both charged with child abuse. Sanchez served less than two years in prison for the offense.

After his release, Sanchez again tried to make a living in construction. He rented a room out of a house on Woodrow Avenue in Simi Valley that he shared with four roommates. He told them he was a crane operator.

His housemates liked him, they said. Sanchez often offered to cook his favorite Mexican dishes. And he was clean-cut, always dressed in nice jeans, an ironed T-shirt and name-brand tennis shoes.

“Immaculate,” said one of the housemates. “That’s how I would describe him.”

In late 1995, Sanchez broke both legs while operating a crane and requiring surgery that included skin grafts. Sanchez fully recovered and earned a sizable workman’s compensation settlement.

Roommates said Sanchez seemed to drift after the accident, spending a lot of time camping. He bought a dune buggy and a champagne-colored sport utility vehicle and seemed to enjoy a more laid-back lifestyle.

On Sept. 2, 1996, the first of several sexual assaults occurred in Simi Valley that would later be attributed to a serial rapist. In this incident, the attacker entered the home of a 19-year-old woman on the city’s west side and raped her while family members slept nearby.

On Sept. 26 of that year, a 23-year-old woman was awakened in the middle of the night when a male intruder put his hands around her neck. She resisted and the man fled, leaving her with minor scratches.

The following January and then again in June, two more attempted rapes were reported that authorities believed were committed by the same man. After the last incident, police asked the state Department of Justice and the FBI to help develop a profile of the attacker.

The profile found that the rapist was probably single and a resident of Simi Valley, had failed at long-term relationships with women and had a criminal record that probably included peeping, burglary or trespassing.

During this time, Sanchez began dating Meiners Oaks resident Luz LaFarga, according to his roommates. He talked about becoming a handyman, or “grip,” for movie studios. He even worked a couple of shifts on the television show “Titus,” one roommate said.

But Sanchez worked sparingly and his relationship with LaFarga, who had four children, was volatile.

On Aug. 27, 1999, Sanchez was arrested by sheriff’s deputies on suspicion of prowling at LaFarga’s house near Ojai. He pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge and was placed on probation.

Then last January, LaFarga obtained a restraining order against Sanchez, saying he had broken into her home and threatened to kill her.

LaFarga told a judge in a sworn declaration dated Jan. 8 that she caught Sanchez peeping through her living room window one night last December and called sheriff’s deputies.

“As the police unit was exiting the driveway,” she wrote in the declaration, “Vincent emerged from the bed of a neighbor’s truck with what appeared to be a large sword.”

LaFarga wrote that Sanchez fled as sheriff’s patrol cars searched for him and was not apprehended.

Sheriff’s officials never passed on the information to Simi Valley police because no connection was made to the sexual assault cases in that city.

“In a perfect world we would have known about it,” Simi Valley Police Chief Randy Adams said last week. “But the variable here that changes the scenario is that it is a domestic situation, and we have thousands of domestic situations all the time.”

“If we had some reason to focus suspicion on him we would have been all over him,” Adams said. “We would have tried to obtain a DNA sample. It’s like looking for a needle in a haystack. It sounds like it would be easy to find somebody, but a criminal doesn’t walk around with a sign saying, ‘I’m a serial murderer.’ ”

In fact, Simi Valley police officials were so stumped for leads in the case that night-shift officers were told last summer to cruise the city for young men and ask them to voluntarily submit to saliva samples on the spot.

With help from scientists at the county’s crime lab who analyzed hundreds of swabs volunteered by men during the year, investigators had hoped to find a match with DNA evidence gathered from three victims.

But a match was never made. As detectives suspected, the rapist probably had never been convicted of a sex crime and been forced to give a DNA sample.

Meanwhile, the Simi Valley City Council offered a $15,000 reward for information in the case, an amount later boosted to $25,000. By March of 2000, the number of attacks had reached 11, including two that month.

In June, Sanchez’s roommates noticed that he had become increasingly withdrawn. He began spending all day in his room, even moving his belongings from the living room into his bedroom.

In July, Sanchez attended a birthday party at a friend’s house. Friends said he was jovial, but mentioned that he was tired because he had just gotten back from a trip to New York where he had been working on a Jennifer Lopez music video.

“He said she was great to work with,” said a friend who asked not to be identified. “He said she wasn’t stuck up, and she even let him take a few pictures.”

After five years of dead-end leads, police finally got their break on July 27 when Sanchez was arrested on suspicion of burglary at a neighbor’s home. One of his roommates talked to the neighbor about some of the items taken from his home, including a shower head, a screen door and a wooden tissue box cover.

When the two searched Sanchez’s room, they discovered several of the missing items and called police.

While in custody, Sanchez called one of his housemates and asked him to destroy a bag he had placed in the trash outside their Woodrow Avenue house.

Inside the bag, the roommates found photographs and videos of naked women bound and gagged. One video showed a man wearing a ski mask, gloves and black clothing and a naked woman whose leg appeared to be bleeding, said Josh Reno, one of the roommates.

“Once I saw it, it was full shock,” Reno said. “I called 911.”

During a search of Sanchez’s home, police seized an AK47 assault rifle that they say may link Sanchez to the Barroso killing.

Barroso was last seen on the morning of July 5 leaving a friend’s house in Thousand Oaks. Her bullet-riddled Pontiac Sunfire was found under a freeway overpass about a mile from her Moorpark home.

Sheriff’s officials said the rifle taken from Sanchez’s home was missing a part similar to one recovered near Barroso’s car. Tests are underway to determine if it is the same gun used to shoot up Barroso’s vehicle.

On Aug. 4, Barroso’s body was found by a search team in a canyon southeast of Simi Valley. She died from a gunshot wound to the abdomen, coroner’s officials said.

Although Sanchez has yet to be charged in the Barroso case, authorities said he is still the prime suspect.

“He is the one we are focusing on,” said Undersheriff Craig Husband. “We are still collecting evidence that may connect him with this act.”

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Times staff writers Timothy Hughes, Margaret Talev and Holly Wolcott contributed to this story.