VENTURA : 3 Men to Stand Trial on Charges of Rape

Three Oxnard men have been ordered to stand trial in Ventura County Superior Court on a variety of sexual assault charges after a 14-year-old girl testified they raped her on Oct. 4.

The girl testified during a preliminary hearing in Municipal Court that Oscar Ponce, 29, Oscar Rivera, 23, and Carlos Tamayo, 18, picked her up in a car and drove her to a field near Gonzales Road, west of Victoria Avenue, where they each raped her twice.

Each man faces charges of two counts of rape by force or fear and one count of kidnaping, rape in concert with force or violence, sodomy, oral copulation with a person under age 14, oral copulation in concert with force, and a special allegation of kidnaping for sex.

Rivera, who allegedly had one and a half grams of cocaine on him when he was arrested, also was charged with possession of cocaine and being under the influence of drugs.

If convicted, each of the men faces a maximum penalty of 88 years in prison, Deputy Dist. Atty. Patrice Koenig said. The three were ordered held in lieu of $100,000 bail until their arraignment, scheduled for Nov. 6 in Superior Court.