Man charged with 1994 mall kidnapping
Authorities say they matched cold-case forensic evidence with DNA sample taken from suspect
SAN JOSE >> A man serving a lengthy prison sentence has been charged with tying up and robbing an Oakridge Mall employee in 1994 after authorities say they matched cold-case forensic evidence to DNA he submitted after an unrelated sexual abuse conviction.
On Jan. 17, the Santa Clara County District Attorney's Office announced that a criminal grand jury indicted 65-year-old Thomas John Loguidice on Dec. 14 on one felony count of kidnapping with the intent to commit robbery. The charge was accompanied by allegations that he used a deadly weapon, threatened great bodily harm and acted with “a high degree of callousness.”
“We don't forget victims and we don't forgive violent crime,” District Attorney Jeff Rosen said in a statement. “Our message to our community is that this office will use advancing DNA forensics, detective work and determination to seek justice.”
Loguidice is serving a 40-year prison sentence following his 2012 conviction in San Benito County for two counts of sexually abusing a child under 14. Until the recent indictment, he was being held in state prison custody at the Correctional Training Facility in Soledad.
Jail records show he was transported to the Santa Clara County Main Jail on Jan. 12. He was arraigned Jan. 18 in a San Jose courtroom, where he pleaded not guilty to the kidnapping charge. Judge Daniel Nishigaya remanded Loguidice back to jail and ordered him to return to court March 15.
Denise Crank, 51, who was held captive and sexually assaulted in the Oakridge Mall robbery, said she was “very thankful” for the work done to revive the case.
“No matter how many years have gone by, I think that justice should be served, not just for the victim but for the perpetrator,” said Crank, who now lives in Michigan.
Prosecutors say the crime behind the new charge was reported the morning of Jan. 13, 1994, at what is now Westfield Oakridge Mall. Crank, then 21, was acting manager at President Tuxedo and was preparing to open the store when a man walked into the showroom, threatened her with a knife and forced her into a back storage room.
The intruder forced the woman to the ground, bound her wrists and tied her to
a pipe, then proceeded to take cash out of the register. Authorities say he sexually assaulted Crank before running away.
San Jose police detectives investigating the holdup eventually ran out of leads. Deputy District Attorney Rob Baker said that last summer, the cold-case unit he leads at the District Attorney's Office revisited the Oakridge case as part of a broader review of nearly 300 unresolved sexual assault investigations dating back to the 1990s.
During the new evaluation, they found that a sample of the assailant's DNA from the original crime scene matched an entry in the FBI'S Combined DNA Index System. The entry reportedly belonged to Loguidice, who was required to submit his DNA to the database after his 2011 arrest in connection with the crimes in San Benito County.
Crank told the Bay Area News Group that Loguidice is indeed the man who attacked her, and said she was proud of the description she gave to police, noting that the police sketch strongly resembles the defendant.
After the match, prosecutors determined that they could not charge the sexual assault dimension of the holdup because the statute of limitations for that crime expired in 2000. But Baker said there was a strong enough case to charge Loguidice with kidnapping with intent for robbery, which has no statute of limitations.
That restriction does not sit well with
Crank, who said she has advocated for lifting charging expirations for sexual assault.
“The evidence is outstanding. There is no reason why there should be a statute of limitations on this case,” Crank said. “It's not my fault this became a cold case, so why don't I get that satisfaction?
“Everything I went through that day, it was the sexual part that stays with me the most,” she added. “That's my biggest issue.”
Baker added that his office sought a criminal indictment from a grand jury instead of directly filing a criminal charge “because of the case age and desire to get to trial as soon as possible.” A grand jury indictment allows prosecutors to bypass a preliminary examination, the court hearing where a judge determines whether charges are fit to proceed to trial.
A conviction on the indictment would add a seven-years-to-life prison term on top of Loguidice's current prison sentence. He has parole eligibility on the San Benito County convictions in 2032; that would be pushed back by at least seven years if he were found guilty of the new kidnapping charge.
Crank said she is ready to get accountability, nearly three decades after she was attacked.
“People have said to me, `He's already in prison. Why put yourself through this?'” she said. “It's about making sure he stays where he belongs.”