Palmdale man accused of sexual assaulting SCV resident in Palmdale, Valley resident in SCV
A Palmdale man pleaded not guilty Monday to two rape charges in connection to allegations by two women who testified that he committed sexual assaults in March and May 2024, respectively.
Judge David Stuart held Luis Humberto Chinchilla Mejia to answer to a pair of rape charges March 16, after two women testified they were promised help by Mejia and, instead, both were sexually assaulted at knifepoint.
He was ordered held at North County Correctional Facility in Castaic in lieu of $1.2 million bail. Mejia, 41, is facing 25 years to life in state prison if convicted of the allegations as charged, according to an amended criminal complaint.
During a preliminary hearing, a judge decides whether there’s enough evidence to potentially prove guilt at a trial after hearing the case and any affirmative defense.
In making his determination, Stuart said the women, whose testimony indicated they had never met, shared “strikingly similar” stories of how Mejia allegedly threatened and then assaulted the women after driving them to remote locations, according to the transcript.
Mejia’s attorney, Arno Akobyan, said that’s one of the problems he had with the day’s testimony.
“It’s highly unbelievable that both of these witnesses don’t know each other, because they came in describing almost exactly to the ‘T,’ the same story,” he said, referring to the alleged victims, during his rebuttal.
“What it seemed like happened is both women were upset that at the end of the sexual encounter, my client lied to them, about what he promised, which is money, and he left them and that anger is … why they called the police, and said what they said about him,” Akobyan said, according to a transcript from the March 18 hearing.
The first alleged victim had opportunities to leave, including when Mejia took her to a convenience store, he said. The second instance, he said, was a miscommunication resulting in a language barrier, as the alleged victim was not fluent in Spanish, and Mejia required an interpreter at trial.
He also questioned whether either woman was really physically bullied by the suspect’s diminutive frame, listed as 5 feet tall and 120 pounds, according to L.A. County Sheriff’s Department custody records.
Deputy District Attorney Courtnee Draper, the case’s prosecutor, spoke up for the alleged victims, who overcame their fears to testify, she said.
She requested Stuart remove the defendant’s wife and sister-in-law from the courtroom — which Stuart granted — after the wife verbally accosted the victims in the hallway while the proceedings were on break, according to Draper, in a transcript of the hearing. Draper indicated the investigating detective had to intervene. The bailiff confirmed the sister-in-law was making noises during the testimony.
“I think that especially given the seriousness of the charges and what they’ll be testifying about, intimidating these unhoused victims in that way is completely inappropriate,” Draper told Stuart, in the transcript.
The first alleged victim, a Santa Clarita resident, said on the stand that she met the defendant March 3 near a Palmdale transit center. She had gotten into an argument with her husband earlier in the evening and took a train to Antelope Valley, where she had stayed with some friends.
The woman, who was homeless, was asking for some change to get together $7.50 for her fare back to Santa Clarita, where she lived, according to the transcript.
She testified that Mejia promised to help, and instead drove her to an area sheriff’s officials previously identified as Sierra Highway and Avenue R in Palmdale. She said that Mejia then got out of the car, smoked some methamphetamine, which she declined, and then he sexually assaulted her with a pocketknife he had in the driver’s side door, pressing the knife against her throat.
He then dropped her off at a nearby parking lot and drove away, according to her testimony.
The second victim testified that she met the defendant May 16, 2024, near a Van Nuys transit center, where she was planning to take the G Line to a food giveaway, as she hadn’t been eating regularly in a while, according to the transcript.
She said on the stand that after sitting down next to her, the defendant knocked the trail mix she had out of her hands and then promised to drive her to Tacos Mexico, a restaurant down the street, and buy her some food.
Instead, he drove her to a remote location she didn’t recognize off Pico Canyon Road, where he removed a glass methamphetamine pipe from his car, smoked, and then sexually assaulted her. The victim said she threatened him with a pocketknife and then placed it on the car’s dashboard during the attack.
The defense agreed to a stipulation at a prior hearing that both of Mejia’s alleged victims had Sexual Assault Response Team examinations performed on them after the incidents, which is part of the procedure law enforcement officials use to document and investigate such allegations. A buccal swab for DNA was taken from Mejia in September 2025. It matched evidence found on both of the victims identified in the criminal complaint filed by the DA’s Office.
Sgt. Joseph Mesa of the LASD Special Victims Unit, which investigates abuse of children and sexual assaults involving adult victims, previously told The Signal that their investigation into Mejia began in March 2025.
“Both females were lured into his vehicle and sexually assaulted,” according to an LASD Nixle alert sent Tuesday. “Based on the nature of the offenses, detectives believe there might be additional victims.”
Arrest records indicated Mejia is a car washer who was arrested in Santa Clarita. Mesa said he did not have the location of the arrest available.
Judge Michael Terrell is now the presiding judge, and has ordered both sides back to address another motion by Akobyan seeking to dismiss the charges on the grounds of insufficient evidence. That hearing is scheduled to happen April 30, according to L.A. County Superior Court records available online.
