Alleged Rapist Pleads Guilty to Lesser Charge, Is Released From Custody in Vista

Giovanni Abarca, 18, pleaded guilty to contributing to the delinquency of a minor, a misdemeanor, in exchange for dropped felony charges — including rape of an intoxicated person — according to prosecutor Kate Flaherty. Abarca was given credit for time served and has been released from custody.

Abarca was arrested in November of 2010, two months after unlawful contact with a 16-year-old girl who admitted sneaking away from her North County high school last September. Victor Orsatti, Abarca’s defense attorney, had argued that the sex was consensual and the girl may have been regretful later.

The alleged victim suggested to investigators that she was drugged unconscious while she was at a Vista apartment with two men and a female classmate; she reported awakening in a shower, with Abarca behind her.

Another 16-year-old girl, who reportedly led the alleged victim to the apartment, admitted to investigators that “she wanted to get even with her” for the stolen affections of a boy and concocted a plot to get the victim “in a state” with drink and drugs and arranged the meeting with “Gio” that day.

“It was a setup,” according to sheriff’s detective Daniel Morsch, who testified at a preliminary hearing in February. This other teen, previously identified by the alias “Chica,” admitted giving the alleged victim a drink she knew was doctored with ecstasy, according to the detective. Although, at the prelim in February, “Chica” was ordered to face felony charges of aiding and abetting an act of sexual intercourse against the will of the victim and administering ecstasy, her case was dropped out of the superior court system this month and transferred into the juvenile system.

The man who lived in the Vista apartment where the unlawful encounter allegedly occurred, 23-year-old David Perez, pleaded guilty to two felonies. Perez was sentenced to 365 days in local jail for possession of ecstasy and child endangerment for allowing his toddler son to be within reach of drugs in the apartment.

(stock photo)