Rapist gets 363 years in ’08 attack on O.C. teen

An Orange County man was sentenced Friday to 363 years to life in prison for the rape of a 16-year-old girl who was attacked as she walked home from a fast-food restaurant early one morning in 2008, prosecutors said.

Juan Humberto Avila, 36, was found guilty by a jury in March of multiple felony counts related to sexual assault as well as dissuading a witness by force or threat, according to a statement from the Orange County district attorney’s office.

Prosecutors said that Avila, a Santa Ana resident, has a 1997 conviction for being involved in a criminal street gang.

In the early morning of Jan. 21, 2008, prosecutors said, the 16-year-old was walking home after meeting friends at an In-N-Out Burger in Santa Ana, when Avila — who was hiding behind a sign — jumped out in front of the victim.

She screamed, prosecutors said, and he punched her several times, dragged her across the street and threatened to stab her to death if she continued to scream.

He allegedly took the girl behind large storage containers in the back of a parking lot and raped her.

After the attack, prosecutors said he stole her bank card, ordered her to stay on the ground and to count to 100 as he fled the scene.

Prosecutors said the girl ran home and reported the assault to Santa Ana police.

DNA evidence was recovered from the victim during a medical examination. Police investigated but the case went cold. Avila was later linked through the DNA evidence from a previous weapons-possession conviction in Arizona, prosecutors said.

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