Already registered as a sex offender at the time of his arrest last summer, Jorge Diaz admitted to forcible rape in court Friday and will serve six years in state prison.
According to police, the victim was a 22-year-old acquaintance of Diaz. She told them Diaz approached her as she walked to her car the morning of June 6, 2012, commandeered the vehicle, and drove her against her will to the Los Angeles area. There, he got a motel room and raped the woman, who apparently already had a restraining order against him. Diaz then drove the victim back to Santa Barbara and let her go, after getting her to promise not to tell police what happened.
Diaz was arrested the next day, and he told police they had gone to L.A. to go shopping and that the sex was consensual.
Diaz was originally charged with kidnap, rape, and oral copulation, according to Deputy District Attorney Benjamin Ladinig, and faced up to 11 years in state prison.