Victorville men get prison time for burglary, rape

VICTORVILLE • Three Victorville men were sent to state prison for breaking into a home, and one of them got additional punishment for raping a drunken teen in a separate incident.

Anthony Steven Hinton, 20, accepted the prosecution’s offer and pleaded guilty Thursday to robbery and raping a drugged victim. Victorville Superior Court Judge John Tomberlin immediately sentenced him to eight years in prison according to the plea agreement.

In the early morning of Jan. 10, a distraught woman made a 911 call from a pay phone stating some men she knew had broken into her Victorville home and had assaulted a man inside the residence in the 15000 block of Midtown Drive, according to San Bernardino County Sheriff’s officials.

When deputies arrived, the robbers had fled the scene with various electronics and other items. They found the male victim had been stabbed in the leg and struck in the head with a chair and golf club, sheriff’s officials said. Rescuers transported the male victim to Victor Valley Community Hospital.

Detectives later arrested Hinton, Danny Manzo, 21, and Raymond Richard Cardenas, 22, for the break-in. They also arrested Candace DeMercado, 22, for hiding Cardenas, her boyfriend.

Manzo pleaded guilty to burglary Thursday and was sentenced to two years, while Cardenas got four years. DeMercado was put on a three-year probation after she served four days in jail and pleaded no contest to being an accessory after the fact.

As detectives continued to investigate the burglary, they found evidence linking Hinton and 19-year-old Gabriel Eric Boatman to a rape reported on Dec. 9, officials said. The victim was in her early teens and, according to authorities, was impaired at the time of the attack.

Boatman pleaded guilty to raping a drugged victim Thursday and was sentenced to eight years in prison.

Tomoya Shimura may be reached at (760) 955-5368 or TShimura@VVDailyPress.com. Follow Tomoya on Facebook at facebook.com/ShimuraTomoya.

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