Modesto man sentenced to 12 years in rape of 14-year-old

A 29-year-old man has been convicted and sentenced to 12 years in prison in the brutal rape of a 14-year-old girl last year after the victim and her friend got into a sport utility vehicle with the defendant and an accomplice.

During a Jan. 24 hearing, Modesto resident Christopher Lewis Armstrong pleaded no contest to rape and sexual battery, the Stanislaus County district attorney's office reported Friday. Deputy District Attorney Beth O'Hara Owen prosecuted the case.

Modesto police said the incident began in east Modesto about 2 p.m. Jan. 5, 2011, when Armstrong and his accomplice, Marcus Jamal Rucker, drove up in a Chevrolet Avalanche and talked to the girls, both 14, walking near Colfax Avenue. Prosecutors said the teenage girls got into the vehicle voluntarily and were given alcohol.

One of the girls realized the danger and began to yell before Armstrong dragged her out of the vehicle, according to prosecutors. He got back in the vehicle and drove away with the other girl.

Police said the girl who made it out of the SUV was found in the 500 block of Bodem Street, a few miles west of where they were picked up. She flagged down a passer-by to call 911 for help, indicating that her friend was being held against her will.

Prosecutors said Armstrong took the other girl to an orchard, where he "brutally raped" her, choking and beating the victim in the process.

Police said the victim was found later that afternoon at El Vista Avenue and Edgebrook Drive, not far from where the girls had been picked up a few hours earlier.

Armstrong was initially charged with kidnapping with the intent to commit rape along with forcible sodomy, oral copulation and sexual penetration. Those charges were dropped once he agreed to a plea deal with prosecutors.

On April 4, Rucker, also of Modesto, was convicted of kidnapping for his role in the crime. He was sentenced to serve one year in the Stanislaus County Jail and three years of probation, according to prosecutors.

Bee staff writer Rosalio Ahumada can be reached at rahumada@modbee.com or (209) 578-2394.