Suspects appear in court in rape case

Two Vancouver men are being held at the Clark County Jail in lieu of $250,000 bail each for allegedly raping a woman earlier this month near the west Vancouver waterfront.

Dontae J. Smith, 20, and Luis A. Carranza, 23, appeared Friday in Clark County Superior Court on suspicion of second-degree rape, court records show.

The men are accused of raping a 19-year-old woman in the back seat of a car parked in the 100 block of Southeast Columbia Way. All three were passengers in the car, according to a probable cause affidavit filed in Superior Court.

The woman reported that the men sexually assaulted her multiple times in the early morning hours of Aug. 8.

She said she repeatedly told the men to stop and to “get the (expletive) away” from her, the affidavit states.

Both the front seat passenger and driver, who had been down by the river when the alleged rape occurred, identified Smith and Carranza as being passengers in the car. They also told police they later found blood in the back seat, court records said.

Police contacted the woman at a hospital and observed a large bruise on the left side of her neck, according to court documents.

Judge David Gregerson on Friday appointed each man an attorney. They will be arraigned Aug. 26.