GARDEN GROVE – A registered sex offender allegedly kidnapped his ex-girlfriend outside her home, and then raped her while holding her captive in a Garden Grove motel room, authorities said Friday.
Investigators followed a lead that pointed them to the motel room hours after the woman failed to show up to work in Mission Viejo – possibly rescuing her from more harmed, said Investigator Dan Salcedo of the Sheriff's Department.
Relatives of the missing woman had reported her missing at 8 a.m. Wednesday.
Deputies took the report and found that her former boyfriend, 43-year-old Eric Lopez, had been arrested the previous month on suspicion of assaulting her at her job. According to court records, Lopez was charged with causing corporal injury on a spouse or cohabitant, as well as making threats the following two days after that assault.
The victim was identified by authorities only as a San Juan Capistrano woman in her 20s.
The woman had filed a restraining order against Lopez, but he had not yet been served with the court documents, Salcedo said.The investigation led deputies to a motel in Garden Grove, where deputies found the woman's car parked. When deputies entered the room, the woman told them Lopez had kidnapped her outside her home, then drove her car to the motel.
The suspect was in the room.
"He had taken her car and took her to that motel room, where she was sexually assaulted 'til the police came," Salcedo said.
Lopez was booked into Central Men's Jail, and he was expected to make an initial court appearance Friday.
According to court records, Lopez pleaded guilty in 1997 to charges of rape and causing corporal injury to a spouse. He was sentenced to six years in state prison.
Lopez was also allegedly in violation of failing to update his address as a sex registrant.
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