Rapist Sentenced to Life in Prison

A man who raped a UCSB student after breaking into her apartment in January 2011 was sentenced to life in state prison, the Santa Barbara District Attorney’s Office announced Thursday. A Santa Barbara jury found Juan Ramirez — who also went by the name Jose Flores — guilty in August on charges of assault with intent to commit rape during a residential burglary and rape.

Ramirez, now 35, entered the then-19-year-old woman’s apartment through a window and raped her, causing her injuries. According to the District Attorney’s Office, the crime went unsolved until about six months later, when authorities tied Ramirez’s DNA to a sample in a state criminal database. Deputy District Attorney Benjamin Ladinig, who handled the case, said that Ramirez popped up in that database due to a late 2010 arrest for felony child endangerment.

In a prepared statement, Ladinig thanked the woman and her family, as well as former UCSB students, for testifying in the trial.