GTT Declares Violence Against Women an Epidemic in San Diego
Every day in the local media we read about women being sexually assaulted or beaten up by their partners and abused in ways we can’t comprehend. It’s an epidemic that we cannot afford to be silent about. So we have decided to chronicle these stories in San Diego to bring awareness to the problem of violence against women in our community.
Join us in declaring violence against women as an important issue that we must confront and stop in our communities.
Today in the San Diego Tribune it was reported that crime has fallen in San Diego with only a blip on the screen that rape is up nearly 1/3! How are San Diego’s women not outraged by this? Join us in our dignified rage about sexual violence in our community. We have to bring this silent epidemic out into the light in our communities and stop rape in San Diego.
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Crime falls for a third year in a row
Number of rapes rises significantly
2:00 a.m. January 30, 2009
-Online: For a detailed crime report, go to sandiego.gov/ mayor/news
SAN DIEGO — Crime in San Diego dropped by 8 percent over the past year, marking the third consecutive year of declining crime, Mayor Jerry Sanders announced yesterday.
Violent crime, including homicide, robbery and assault, was down about 5 percent, while property crime, including auto theft and burglary, was down about 9 percent.
The only type of crime to jump substantially was rape, from 296 incidents in 2007 to 376 in 2008, an increase of 27 percent.
Police Chief William Lansdowne said much of that rise can be attributed to programs in high schools and colleges that encourage young people to report the crime, especially acquaintance rape and rape involving alcohol.
“We found that people were very reluctant to report the crime, and now we’re seeing a lot of that reluctance has gone away,” Lansdowne said during a news conference at the department’s Northern Division. “We hope next year to see a reduction.”
Crime attributed to gangs had an 8 percent increase overall, but police say a concentrated effort to combat gang violence over the year has made quite a difference.
According to the data, gang homicides decreased 25 percent; drive-by shootings are were down 42 percent; and arrests of gang members were up 5 percent.
However, robberies and assaults by gang members continue to be an issue.
“Gangs are a cancer on every city in America today,” Lansdowne said.
Assistant Chief Cesar Solis said gang officers are focusing on the growing trend of gang members targeting people leaving parties.
In December, high school students Monique Palmer, 17, and Michael Taylor, 15, were shot to death after leaving a party in Valencia Park.
In an effort to quell some of the violence, authorities had a sit-down with all the members of a large southeastern San Diego gang and offered them help to get out of the lifestyle. Those in the meeting included Lansdowne and representatives from the District Attorney’s Office, the U.S. Attorney’s Office and several other social service providers. The idea of the gang summit came from the mayor’s wife, Rana Sampson.
Solis said a few gang members have since expressed interest in the help.
Kristina Davis: (619) 542-4591; kristina.davis@uniontrib.com
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December 9, 2008
Woman beaten, burned; ex-boyfriend is arrested
By Debbi Baker
UNION-TRIBUNE
EAST COUNTY: A woman was in critical condition yesterday after being beaten and then burned in a fire in a mobile home southeast of Alpine, sheriff’s officials and family members said.
Her former boyfriend, Todd Andrew Wimler, 46, was arrested on suspicion of attempted murder and arson, sheriff’s Detective Vincent Peace said.
Firefighters were called to the rural East County property on Japatul Road, near Lyons Valley Road, about 11:45 p.m. Saturday and found the mobile home engulfed in flames, sheriff’s officials said.
The woman, 51, was inside, but another resident on the property saw the blaze and pulled her out, Peace said. She told deputies that Wimler beat her, held her down and then set the mobile home on fire.
The victim is a single mother with three teenage sons. She had been dating Wimler for about a year, a nephew said.
Wimler was found at the bottom of a ravine on the property, Peace said. Deputies do not know if he was trying to escape or if he fell. He had scratches on his body and was not moving when he was found, the detective said. –D.B.
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December 9, 2008
Prosecutor: Jealousy behind killing
By Ray Huard
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER
A South County man hurled his former girlfriend to her death from an apartment balcony in front of the woman’s 12-year-old daughter, a prosecutor said in court yesterday.
“She listened to her mother scream,” Deputy District Attorney Chandra Reid told a Chula Vista Superior Court jury. “She watched as the defendant picked up her mother and threw her off a 12-foot balcony.”
Eduardo Duarte, 38, is charged with murder in the death of Ana Valdez, 41, in April.
The prosecutor said Duarte killed Valdez because “he was angry that she had a new boyfriend.”
Deputy Public Defender Jack Hochman said Duarte should be convicted of a lesser crime because he never meant to kill Valdez. Duarte threw Valdez off the balcony in a rage after he found another man in her bedroom and she taunted him, Hochman said.
He said Duarte told police that he acted without thinking “as if an evil spirit had taken over me.”
“This is an unplanned act,” Hochman said.
Duarte went to Valdez’s Otay Mesa apartment on Via Tonga near Beyer Way about 7 a.m. April 11 to drop off their 3-year-old son, Hochman said.
The couple had lived together for several years but separated in August 2005 soon after the boy was born, Valdez’s older daughter testified.
When Duarte arrived, he saw another man in Valdez’s bedroom and approached Valdez in the living room, Hochman said.
“She decided this was the time to confront him and tell him, in one way or the other, that it was over,” Hochman said.
He said Duarte had hoped to reconcile with Valdez, even though he knew she was dating someone else.
“She said, ‘Stupid, I don’t need you anymore. You idiot, I need the pink slip to the car,’ and he lost it,” Hochman said.
Several witnesses said they saw Duarte throw Valdez head-first from the balcony onto a driveway beneath it, prosecutor Reid said.
She said Valdez, a mother of four, was taken to a hospital but never regained consciousness and died April 14 from “massive injuries to her head.”
After tossing Valdez from the balcony, Duarte looked at the man she was dating and said, “You’re next,” Reid said.
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December 2, 2008
SDSU police seek six men in sexual-assault case
By Ronald W. Powell
UNION-TRIBUNE
COLLEGE AREA: San Diego State University police said they are seeking six men in connection with a sexual attack on a woman inside the Kappa Alpha fraternity house in the early hours of Nov. 15.
Police said the woman was forced into a bedroom of the house, near Hardy Avenue and 55th Street, by three men and assaulted. Three other men stood outside the room during the attack, which was broken up when another man entered the room and allowed the woman to escape.
San Diego State police are asking anyone with information to call (619) 594-1991, or leave an anonymous tip with Crime Stoppers at (619) 235-8477. Police also can be contacted via e-mail at police@mail.sdsu.edu.
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December 1, 2008
Deputies say man tried to rape, strangle woman
SIGNONSANDIEGO
VISTA: A man was arrested on suspicion of attempted murder and attempted rape late Saturday after deputies responded to reports of a man attacking a nude woman near a motel.
Sheriff’s deputies were called just before midnight to the area around the Franciscan Inn on South Santa Fe Avenue near Monte Vista Drive, said Sgt. Nelson Prosper.
The assailant and the woman had apparently registered at the motel together and he later tried to rape the woman, Prosper said. The man then reportedly struck her with a bat, stabbed her in the right leg with a knife and tried to strangle her with a cord, Prosper said.
A 39-year-old man was arrested near the motel and booked into jail on suspicion of attempted murder, attempted rape, torture and battery on a peace officer.
The woman was taken to a hospital and was expected to survive, Prosper said.
-M.A.
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October 22, 2008
Man Accused of Raping Woman, Tossing Her Out of Car on I-8
Channel 6 News
SAN DIEGO – A La Mesa man suspected of abducting and raping an acquaintance early Wednesday before throwing her out of a moving car on Interstate 8 was arrested hours later at Qualcomm Stadium, officials reported.
Damarest Dunn, 33, met the victim Tuesday evening in San Diego and took her to his La Mesa home, where he allegedly held her at gunpoint and sexually assaulted her, La Mesa police said.
About 2:30 this morning, Dunn allegedly forced the 30-year-old woman into his car, then pushed her out while driving about 50 mph on I-8, near Fletcher Parkway, authorities said.
Witnesses reported seeing the woman tumble onto the freeway, and medics took her to a hospital, where she was treated and released later in the day, according to police.
Detectives eventually identified Dunn as the alleged assailant and went to his Waite Drive home, finding him gone.
Police then determined he worked for a party rental business that was taking part in an event at the stadium in Mission Valley. Detectives went to the Friars Road sports and special-events complex, where Dunn surrendered without incident.
He was booked into county jail on suspicion of rape, kidnapping and assault.
