Rapist Gets 21 Years for Attack on Stripper

A Stanton man was sentenced Friday to 21 years and eight months in prison for the abduction and Long Beach rape of a stripper two years ago.

Daniel Vidal Santana, 27, accepted a plea bargain from prosecutors Sept. 10, pleading guilty to kidnapping, assault producing great bodily injury, two counts of sexual assault and car theft.

Orange County Superior Court Judge Steven Bromberg ordered Santana to register as a sexual offender for the rest of his life. Santana was given credit for 846 days served in jail.

Santana met the 34-year-old strip club dancer just after midnight on Nov. 11, 2010, as she did a private dance for his friend, Deputy District Attorney Jess Rodriguez said. After the defendant met up with the victim later that night at a nearby gas station he coaxed her to an alley in Stanton where he beat her up, Rodriguez said.

Then he put her in the trunk of her car and drove her to a parking lot in Long Beach where he raped her, Rodriguez said. As Santana was checking into a Long Beach motel, the woman managed to get away by telling the motel clerk about her attack.

Santana fled with the woman's car, the prosecutor said.