Santa Barbara policeannounced Monday that they’ve made an arrest in a rape that occurred almost one year ago thanks to DNA analysis conducted by the California Department of Justice.
Peter Lino Parra, 35, of Santa Barbara was arrested on May 14 at his home on rape charges stemming from an incident involving a 21-year-old UCSB student who was too intoxicated to resist, according to Sgt. Riley Harwood.
The rape occurred in the early morning hours of June 8, 2012, after the young woman and friends had gone to a downtown nightclub after drinking at the woman’s residence near UCSB.
The group proceeded to Tonic Nightclub, 634 State St., where the victim continued to drink heavily, Harwood said.
The woman was asked to leave by nightclub staff because of her level of intoxication, and her friends arranged for another mutual friend to respond downtown and take the victim home.
The victim was approached by Parra as she was waiting for her ride, and he led her to a nearby car that was being driven by another man, Harwood said.
The victim was driven to the suspect’s residence on the 1500 block of San Andres St. where she was raped, and then driven to Isla Vista where she was dropped off.
The victim walked home and later that morning went to Goleta Valley Cottage Hospital, where she was interviewed by two SBPD officers, who conducted a forensic medical examination of the victim and collected evidence, which was sent to the California Department of Justice Crime Lab for analysis.
The case was passed on to a Crimes Against Persons sergeant, who exhausted all leads but the case was unsolved, pending any results from the DOJ Crime Lab, Harwood said.
On April 24 of this year, the investigators were notified by the Department of Justice that a DNA match linked the evidence to Parra, and he was arrested last week.
He was interviewed at the Santa Barbara Police Department and initially denied ever having any contact with the victim.
After he was confronted with the evidence, Parra acknowledged that he had been with the victim at the time of the incident, Harwood said, and admitted to having sex with her and then dropping her off in Isla Vista, but stated that the sex was consensual.
Parra was booked at the Santa Barbara County Jail for rape with bail set at $100,000.
— Noozhawk staff writer Lara Cooper can be reached at lcooper@noozhawk.com. Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @noozhawk, @NoozhawkNews and @NoozhawkBiz. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook.