A 27-year-old man has pleaded not guilty to attempted murder, sexual assault and other felony charges stemming from an attack last week in Goleta.
Fidel Lorenzana-Lopez was arrested on Sept. 29 after he allegedly attempted to sexually assault and kill a woman, according to Raquel Zick, public information officer for the Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Office.
Deputies responded to a business on the 5400 block of Hollister Avenue around 6:25 p.m., where they found the victim, who had suffered serious injuries, Zick said.
“The reporting party called 9-1-1 after hearing someone calling out for help, and then finding a woman who was partially clothed running toward the business,” Zick said. “Deputies quickly learned that the suspect had fled the area … just prior to their arrival, in a silver colored Volkswagen Beetle.”
Deputies searched the area and later located the suspect’s vehicle, unoccupied, on the 900 block of Ward Drive, Zick said, which is about 1 mile away.
They located Lorenzana-Lopez about a block away from the car, Zick said, and he was taken into custody.
Lorenzana-Lopez was booked into the Santa Barbara County Jail, where he remained Wednesday in lieu of $1 million bail.
Lorenzana-Lopez has been charged with felony counts of attempted murder, assault with intent to commit rape, assault likely to produce great bodily injury, false imprisonment by violence, sexual battery by restraint, making criminal threats, second-degree robbery, and dissuading a witness by force or threat, according to the criminal complaint filed by the District Attorney’s Office in Santa Barbara Superior Court.
These charges also include the special allegation that they are serious/violent/registerable sex offenses.
In addition, Lorenzana-Lopez faces misdemeanor charges of battery and giving false information to a police officer.
He appeared in court Oct. 1 for arraignment before Judge Clifford R. Anderson III, and entered not-guilty pleas to all charges.
Lorenzana-Lopez is due back in court Dec. 1 for a preliminary hearing setting, according to Superior Court records.
The Sheriff’s Department asks anyone with additional information about this incident or the suspect to contact Detective Nuñez at 805.681.4150, or use the sheriff’s tip line at 805.681.4171 and online at SBSheriff.org.
— Noozhawk executive editor Tom Bolton can be reached at tbolton@noozhawk.com. Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @noozhawk, @NoozhawkNews and @NoozhawkBiz. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook.