Man enters Newton plea to indecent liberties, sentenced to three-plus years

A Vancouver man who was accused of raping a woman was sentenced Monday to more than three years in prison.

Luis A. Carranza, 24, previously entered a Newton plea in Clark County Superior Court to indecent liberties without forcible compulsion, which allows a defendant to acknowledge that a jury could find him guilty of that crime but not admit to guilt. He was originally charged with second-degree rape.

Carranza also pleaded guilty to second-degree theft.

His co-defendant, 21-year-old Dontae J. Smith of Vancouver, previously entered the same pleas and was sentenced to about 4 1/2 years in prison.

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

The victim told police that the men sexually assaulted her multiple times in the early morning of Aug. 8, 2016, despite her repeatedly telling them to stop, the affidavit said.

The driver and another passenger in the car, who were down by the river when the alleged rape occurred, identified Carranza and Smith as being passengers in the car and said they later found blood in the back seat, according to court documents.

Senior Deputy Prosecutor Kasey Vu said the victim was intoxicated and that the men took advantage of her and also stole and used her debit card.

Judge John Fairgrieve followed the attorneys’ agreed-upon sentencing recommendation of 40 months in prison and 36 months of community custody.