A Santa Maria judge on Thursday sentenced a 19-year-old former St. Joseph High School student to one year in jail and five years of probation after a jury found him guilty of three felony counts of unlawful sex with a minor, who was a 14-year-old fellow student at the time.
Shane Villalpando, who graduated from Righetti High School last June, was charged in April 2012 with raping a 14-year-old girl while he was a student at the Orcutt Catholic high school.
Villalpando appeared Thursday in a Santa Maria courtroom fresh out of the Santa Barbara County Jail, where he has been since Superior Court Judge Rick Brown ordered him into custody at an informal hearing on June 27.
Brown handed down a previously agreed to sentence, which involved Villalpando pleading guilty to an added felony count of unlawful sex with a minor in exchange for prosecutors not attempting to retry him on the fourth felony count of rape of an intoxicated person — on which the jury had deadlocked 11-1 for conviction.
Villalpando also agreed to serve one year in jail with five years of formal probation, and will register as a sex offender for five years as a term of that probation, according to Deputy District Attorney Jennifer Karapetian.
He faced a maximum sentence of five years in prison under the charges he was found guilty of on June 12.
Villalpando was tried on lesser charges after originally facing three felony counts of forcible rape, one felony count of administering a drug and one felony count of dissuading a witness.
The 14-year-old victim’s complaint alleges Villalpando raped her on multiple occasions between Jan. 28 and April 13 in 2012, and then tried to prevent or dissuade her from reporting the incidents to the police.
On Thursday, Karapetian commented on the courage of the 14-year-old victim and another Jane Doe, who also came forward with allegations.
“They started as rape victims and ended as rape survivors,” the prosecutor said in a statement. “They want to close this dark painful chapter and begin on the bright path towards healing.”
Villalpando was also ordered to pay full restitution to the victims and to receive extensive drug and alcohol counseling, testing and sex offender treatment.
Karapetian said the exact amount of restitution would be discussed at a hearing scheduled for Aug. 29.
— Noozhawk staff writer Gina Potthoff can be reached at gpotthoff@noozhawk.com. Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @noozhawk, @NoozhawkNews and @NoozhawkBiz. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook.