Skip to main content

Three men in Elba accused of raping woman who visited their house

By Howard B. Owens
Santiago Hernandez-Ruiz Darwin Zuniga-Rocha Eliseo Mateo-Perez

Three men in Elba are accused of forcibly raping a young woman at their home on Oak Orchard Road on Saturday night.

The men are charged with rape in the first degree and were jailed on $25,000 cash bail or $50,000 bond.

All three men were out of federal custody on bail after previously being charged with being in the country illegally, said Investigator Kris Kautz.

Kautz said the victim was a young woman with ties to the migrant labor community in the Elba area. She didn't know the three men, but had seen them around. She had gone to their home because an acquaintance was visiting there and called and asked for a ride home.

When the alleged victim arrived, she tried to get her friend to come out of the house, Kautz said, both by yelling inside and trying to reach her on her phone.

When the friend didn't come out, she went in and that's when things went bad, Kautz said.

Only one of the men spoke a little English, so agents from Immigration and Custom Enforcement were called in to assist in the investigation and translate.

Arrested were Santiago Hernandez-Ruiz, 19, Darwin Zuniga-Rocha, 29, and Eliseo Mateo-Perez, 20.

Deputy Dana Richardson assisted in the investigation.

Also arrested at the same location as a result of the investigation was Catalino Lopez-Leiba, 43, who was charged with criminal possession of a forged instrument, 2nd. Lopez-Leiba allegedly possessed a forged Social Security card.

Authentically Local