Man gets 25 to life for 1999 rapes of girl in Santa Ana
SANTA ANA (CNS) — A 44-year-old man was sentenced Friday to 25 years to life in prison for the abduction and multiple rapes of an 11-year-old girl 25 years ago in Santa Ana.
Ismael Salgado was convicted Feb. 1 of a count of kidnapping to commit rape and five counts of rape, all felonies.
Senior Deputy District Attorney Kristin Bracic argued for 50 years to life in prison.
Salgado “took advantage of a young victim by charming her into his vehicle for a ride and then executed complete control over her,” Bracic said in a sentencing brief.
She added that his “disturbing abuse of (the victim) warrants consecutive sentencing; as does the fact that he refuses to accept any responsibility for his conduct.”
Salgado “instilled a fear in (the victim) from which she will never recover,” Bracic said. “To add insult to injury, he maintains a complete lack of responsibility which equates to absolutely no remorse for what he has done.”
In closing arguments of the trial, Bracic pointed to images from a gas station surveillance video to show Salgado was buying gas — just as the victim claimed — before she was repeatedly raped in two separate locations.
“Ismael Salgado is the driver” of the Honda Accord he was filling with gas after he and his friend, Jose Andres Plascencia, 43, abducted the victim on Feb. 3, 1999, Bracic said.
Bracic reminded jurors during her closing argument that a Santa Ana police officer testified about pulling over Salgado in a car that matched the description of the suspect vehicle around the time of the rapes. The car’s license plate also matched a partial plate number provided by a witness, she added.
Salgado’s DNA was found inside the victim’s genitalia, and his genetic material was also on her breasts, matching the girl’s testimony that the driver of the vehicle bit her on the chest while assaulting her, Bracic told jurors.
Salgado’s attorney, Peter Boldin of the Alternate Defender’s Office, argued that the surveillance video photo of the suspect from the gas station did not match a photo of his client taken around the time of the assaults.