Rapist behind bars for decades

A robber who raped a female employee of an auto parts store just east of National City was sentenced Dec. 3 to 35 years to life in prison. His fellow bandit and carjacker was sentenced to 17 years in prison.

Adrian Osuna Avena, 26, received 35 years to life by San Diego Superior Court Judge Eugenia Eyherabide, who fined him $25,200. She ordered Avena to register as a sex offender when he is paroled.

Avena pleaded guilty to rape of a female employee at gunpoint on Paradise Valley Road in the Sept. 5, 2011, incident.

He also pleaded guilty to false imprisonment of a male employee at the same store and to carjacking a 17-year-old boy on a nearby street in Paradise Hills.

Juan Pablo Perez, 35, was sentenced to 17 years in prison. Perez pleaded guilty to robbing the rape victim and the store’s manager and carjacking. The manager was beaten over the head with a gun while the bandits demanded the combination to the safe.

Both men received credits of 523 days in jail since they were arrested by San Diego Police. The pair fled in the teenager’s Saturn, but blew a tire during a police chase. One man stayed in the car but the other was spotted by a police helicopter and stopped after a police dog bit him.