Jury Finds Man Guilty Of Sex Attack Near Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk

A Santa Cruz County Superior Court jury found a man guilty Monday of a 2013 sexual attack on a woman near the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk, prosecutors said.

After a one-week trial, Joey Patino Hernandez, 26, was found guilty of felony false imprisonment by violence and attempted sexual penetration, according to the Santa Cruz County District Attorney’s Office.

At about 2 a.m. on July 15, 2013, Hernandez chased two women along Beach Street.

The women were foreign exchange students visiting from Bulgaria, prosecutors said. Hernandez managed to catch one of the women as she attempted to run into her apartment across from the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk, according to prosecutors. Hernandez forcibly restrained the woman and tried to sexually assault her before several people came to her aid and chased Hernandez away, prosecutors said.

Police apprehended Hernandez later that night. According to the district attorney’s office, doctors diagnosed Hernandez with several mental disorders and declared him incompetent to stand trial.

He spent more than a year at Atascadero State Hospital. In August 2014, doctors then restored Hernandez to competency and criminal proceedings were reinstated, prosecutors said.

“Our community owes a great deal of gratitude to the jury members for carefully weighing all of the evidence before reaching their verdicts,” Assistant District Attorney Rafael Vazquez said in a statement.

“This community is also indebted to the courageous young woman who alerted the authorities and came back from Bulgaria to face her attacker in court,” Vasquez said.

Hernandez is scheduled for sentencing on July 8, prosecutors said.

--Bay City News