Authorities arrested a 65-year-old man accused of posing as a lawyer and raping a girl who got here to him in search of assist together with her immigration standing.
On Nov. 12, a girl reported that she had been sexually assaulted by Jose Bernal after she refused his advances and tried to depart his workplace on 1203 E. seventeenth St. in Santa Ana, in accordance with the Santa Ana Police Division.
Bernal instructed the sufferer that his authorized providers would value her $14,000 however that he’d supply a reduction if she entered a relationship with him, in accordance with police. After the assault, he allegedly instructed her he’d pay her $400 to not report the incident to police.
On Wednesday, almost one 12 months for the reason that accuser filed a police report, police revealed a bulletin in search of the general public’s assist in discovering Bernal as a part of their “Wished Wednesday” collection.
Jose Bernal was arrested Thursday morning, a day after police posted a bulletin in search of the general public’s assist in discovering him.
(Santa Ana Police Division)
The next morning, Bernal was arrested in Tustin after workers at a McDonald’s acknowledged him from the social media submit and notified regulation enforcement.
There isn’t any Jose Bernal listed as a licensed lawyer or paralegal within the State Bar of California or the California Alliance of Paralegal Assn.’s on-line directories.
A tax preparation enterprise referred to as BMB Multiservices is listed on the handle the place the alleged assault happened. NBC4 spoke to a person who recognized himself as Bernal’s brother and mentioned that the enterprise belongs to his sister and that Bernal had labored for it.
Detectives imagine there could also be further victims and are asking anybody with data to contact Detective M. Tapia at (714) 245-8379 or mtapia@santa-ana.org.
