Rape suspect believed to have quit job, fled town

Deepa Bharath

Police are looking for a 41-year-old man who they say raped a woman

in his Newport Beach apartment four months ago and then quit his job

and skipped town before detectives could interview him.

Timothy James Marino and 36-year-old Allen Ward Cocker of Tustin

are accused of taking a 24-year-old woman to Marino’s apartment in

the 200 block of Walnut Street after the three spent the night of

Sept. 14 drinking and bar-hopping in Newport, Sgt. Steve Shulman

said.

The woman reported the rape to Newport Beach police the next day,

he said. Detectives have a videotape that captures the incident,

Shulman said.

“We have reason to believe that the suspects made the video,” he

said.

Cocker was arrested Nov. 14 at his Santa Ana office. He is out on

a $50,000 bail.

Police have obtained an arrest warrant for Marino, who they

believe has fled to Canada or Mexico.

“He abruptly quit his job in Anaheim, where he had been working

for the last 11 years,” Shulman said. “He quit days after our

detectives had scheduled an interview with him.”

Marino also moved out of his Newport Beach apartment quickly and

“left the area,” he said. His bail is set at $500,000.

Marino and Cocker knew the victim before the night of the alleged

rape, Shulman said.

“It wouldn’t be fair to say they were friends,” he said. “But they

did know each other. It wasn’t as if they met in a bar that night.”

Shulman declined to go into details of the crime, but said the

videotape of the incident that investigators have “substantiates the

victim’s allegations.”

The woman and the men had been drinking that night, but it is not

known if alcohol was a factor, he said. Marino and Cocker face felony

rape charges, Shulman said.

This is not the first rape case in the area in which a videotape

is involved. In a high-profile gang rape case involving three Inland

Valley teens which will go to trial in March, a videotape said to

have captured the incident in lurid detail is said to be the key

piece of evidence. Greg Haidl, Kyle Nachreiner and Keith Spann face

several years in prison as they stand accused of raping an

unconscious 16-year-old girl in the Corona del Mar home of Haidl’s

father.

Capturing their actions on tape probably “serves as a thrill for

perpetrators,” said Heather Banuelos, program director for Sexual

Assault Victims Services, which serves as Orange County’s rape crisis

center.

“They probably want to show it off to their friends,” she said.

“It’s something that we see more of as technology improves. There are

just more tools to the trade.”

Alcohol frequently plays a role in rapes, Banuelos said.

“Women must be extremely careful and aware of their surroundings,”

she said. “They need to be aware of date rape drugs as well as know

their personal boundaries as far as alcohol is concerned.

“This is not about blaming the victims,” she said. “But it always

helps to take precautions.”

Marino is described as 5-foot-10, weighing 190 pounds, with brown

hair and hazel eyes, and “very muscular.” Anyone with information

about the case or Marino’s whereabouts are asked to call Det. John

Hougan at (949) 644-3771 or the police department’s crime hotline at

(800) 550-6273.

* DEEPA BHARATH covers public safety and courts. She may be

reached at (949) 574-4226 or by e-mail at deepa.bharath@ latimes.com.