By RAELYNN RICARTE
News staff writer
November 28, 2007

An accused rapist who fled from Hood River 11 years ago to avoid prosecution is now on his way to prison.

Juvenito Jaimes-Maciel, 39, recently entered a guilty plea to DUII, possession of cocaine, kidnapping, burglary and the sexual abuse of a 16-year-old girl. He will spend 18 months behind bars in a plea deal offered by Deputy District Attorney Carrie Rasmussen and approved by the victim. She is now 27 and resides in a southeastern state with her four children.

“This was a somewhat lesser sentence than Mr. Jaimes-Maciel might have gotten. But it would have been a hardship for the victim to leave her four children to come here for a trial. And she didn’t want to have to explain this incident in her life to the children,” said Rasmussen.

She credited the work of a fugitive task force for helping her to find the victim. After Jaimes-Maciel was found to be incarcerated in California this summer, the search for the woman began.

Gloria Needham, the county’s crime victim’s advocate, looked up the woman’s former friends in Hood River. She learned that the victim had moved and an approximate area where she had settled.

Rasmussen said the task force in that state agreed to help when they were notified about the situation. She said they managed to find the victim, who was pleased that Jaimes-Maciel would be held accountable for the trauma that he had inflicted upon her so many years ago.

“I really credit the fugitive task force for going the extra mile to help a prosecutor from clear across the country put her case back together again,” said Rasmussen.

According to reports, Jaimes-Maciel was tied to the rape in the spring of 1996 by DNA evidence. Following his initial arrest, the suspect posted a $10,000 cash bail and fled from Oregon.

He had been serving time for burglary when he was linked to the local case. Although Jaimes-Maciel had been 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 then notified that his suspect was already in custody. He arranged for Jaimes-Maciel to return to the Gorge and stand trial.