Winnetka man faces 32 years for rape

A Winnetka man faces 32 years in state prison after pleading no contest Monday to criminal charges of kidnapping to commit rape, forcible rape and sexual penetration by foreign object.

Etienne Juarez Rosas, 26, appeared Monday in San Fernando Superior Court where he entered his plea, Ricardo Santiago, spokesman for the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office told The Signal Tuesday.

“He pleaded no contest and is expected to be sentenced to 32 years in state prison,” Santiago said.

Rosas is scheduled to be sentenced on Apr. 10.

Rosas, who was charged a year ago, was held to answer to all the charges filed against him on March 15, 2016, Santiago said earlier.

A former cook at the Azul Tequila restaurant on Tourney Road in Valencia, Rosas was held in custody after his arrest with bail set at $4 million.

The assault and rape for which he was charged happened at 4 a.m. on Oct. 25, 2015, when sheriff’s officials say he approached a 25-year-old woman standing next to her vehicle parked outside the Denny’s restaurant in the 27500 block of Wayne Mills Place in Valencia near where Azul Tequila is located.

Rosas spoke to the victim briefly before forcing her into her vehicle, investigators said at the time of his arrest.

He then “viciously assaulted her, both physically and sexually, for several minutes,” according to a Sheriff’s Department news release issued last year.

The victim was able to hit the horn of her vehicle, at which point Rosas allegedly stopped his assault and fled on foot.