MOORPARK : Man Pleads Guilty in Kidnap, Rape

A Moorpark man has pleaded guilty to kidnaping and rape charges stemming from the Aug. 14 abduction of a woman and her two children at a supermarket parking lot.

Manuel Vincent Gutierrez, 43, will be sentenced Dec. 20 on his plea of guilty Monday to three counts of kidnaping and nine counts of rape and sexual assault. Under the plea-bargain agreement, two other sexual assault charges will be dropped at the time of sentencing, said Deputy Dist. Atty. Patrice Koenig.

Despite dismissal of two charges, Gutierrez faces a maximum prison sentence of 116 years. “That’s tantamount to life,” she said.

Gutierrez was accused of abducting a 23-year-old Moorpark woman and her two young children from the well-lighted section of the Hughes Market parking lot at 101 W. Los Angeles Ave. about 9:30 p.m.

The man forced her to drive to a hilly rural area northwest of Moorpark where he raped her, police said. Gutierrez was arrested three days later.

After the incident, the woman angrily told police that passersby had ignored her screams for help. When she was forced into the car, she began screaming and did not stop until he choked her, police said.

Meanwhile, people passed in and out of the store, and one man was standing just three parking spaces away, the woman told police.

Gutierrez served time in prison for a 1969 rape conviction. In 1976, he was imprisoned for murder, and in 1984, he was convicted of battering his estranged wife.