By RAELYNN RICARTE
News staff writer
June 15, 2007

On rape case, DA says, ‘We don’t give up …’

An accused rapist who fled Hood River County 11 years ago has been found in California — behind prison bars.

Juventio Jaimes-Maciel, 39, had been serving time for burglary when he was tied to the local case. Although he was using another name, one of many aliases, an FBI database matched the fingerprints of the inmate with the fugitive.

Hood River County District Attorney John Sewell was immediately notified that his suspect was already in custody.

He then arranged for Jaimes-Maciel’s return to the Gorge. The suspect is expected to arrive at the Northern Oregon Regional Correctional Facilities in The Dalles within the next two weeks. He will then be scheduled for a trial involving the alleged kidnapping and rape of a Hood River female who was 17 years old.

Sewell is gearing up to prosecute a felony case that began more than one decade ago. He has to track down the victim, now 28, and witnesses who can testify against Jaimes-Maciel. The suspect lived in an apartment complex on Avalon Way at the time of his original arrest.

“We don’t give up on a case like this just because it’s old,” said Sewell. “So, we’ll start going through the process of rounding up the witnesses and getting the case back on track. Sometimes they are still right here and sometimes we have to go find them.”

Sewell said the evidence was shelved once the warrant for Jaimes-Maciel was issued — but is still viable. He declined to provide further information about the incident in 1996.

“We’ll leave a warrant out there for quite a while on these types of crimes because there is no statute of limitations,” he said.

Sewell is checking to see if time has run out to charge the suspect for skipping out on bail.

“Usually, when a defendant flees like this, it’s because things aren’t going so well with their case,” he said.