Crime & Safety

No Charges in Hollywood Parking Structure Rape Case‎

A deputy district attorney says there is "a reasonable doubt as to whether the alleged crimes occurred" and decides not to file charges against suspect Chris Cardoza.

Los Angeles County prosecutors cited insufficient evidence in declining Thursday to file charges against a Reseda man arrested on suspicion of raping a woman in a Hollywood parking structure.

Chris Cardoza, 23, was released Wednesday on $100,000 bail after his arrest Tuesday by Los Angeles police. The incident, initially reported as a sexual assault, occurred Sunday around 3 a.m. in a parking structure in the 1400 block of Ivar Avenue, according to authorities. The structure serves the ArcLight movie theater, 24 Hour Fitness and nearby restaurants. 

"There is a reasonable doubt as to whether the alleged crimes occurred," Deputy District Attorney Rouman Ebrahim wrote in a charge evaluation worksheet.

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Cardoza told authorities that he and the woman had consensual sex in his car and that he left after she got out of the vehicle and began talking to another man, according to the document. A security guard saw the two "talking to each other in a friendly manner," then saw the man leave after a second man approached and joined their conversation, according to the charge evaluation worksheet.

The woman in her 20s—who said she was forcibly carried into a car and raped by two men—"admitted to being extremely intoxicated" and never told the security guard or the other man that she had been assaulted, according to the document.

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City News Service contributed to this report.


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