Gov. Brown on 9/9 signed a bill that closes a loophole in rape-by-impersonation law. Prosecutors can now charge a perpetrator who coerces a victim by pretending to be someone the victim knows with felony rape. The law used to only allow for felony prosecution if the rapist impersonated the victim’s spouse. Santa Barbara District Attorney Joyce Dudley spearheaded the bill in 2011 after a case in which a male intruder impersonated the boyfriend of a half-asleep woman. Although the prowler was caught, he could not be prosecuted as a felon because he impersonated the victim’s boyfriend, not her husband.
