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A Chino Hills man is accused of pretending to be a police officer so he could kidnap and rape a woman from a Fullerton nightclub, and police believe there may be other victims. Nelson Mauricio Lunaty Garcia, 32, is accused of kidnapping a woman from the parking lot of In Cahoots, a country nightclub in Fullerton. He has been charged with felony kidnapping to commit a sexual offense, forcible oral copulation, sexual penetration by a foreign object and force, and felony sodomy by force, according to OC Weekly. He will next appear in court on October 2. If convicted, he faces 31 years to life in prison.
According to investigators, Garcia approached the woman on September 3 around midnight, just as she was leaving the club. He convinced her that he was a police officer and that she was under arrest. He then allegedly bound the woman's hands and put her in the back of his car, which he led the victim to believe was an undercover police car. He then drove to a remote area, where he raped the woman before taking her back to the club and dropping her off in the parking lot.
While the victim did not initially report the incident to the police, she did confide in her friends. The woman and her friends decided to go report the incident to the managers of the club. When they arrived, however, the woman saw a car similar to the one her attacker had been driving, so they called the police. Garcia was arrested, and officers found a loaded gun in his car, among other items that led them to believe had may have assaulted others, NBC LA reports.
Anyone with information should contact Orange County District Attorney Supervising Investigator Mark Gutierrez at 714-347-8794 or Fullerton Police Detective Mario Magliano at 714-738-6753.
