One early evening last spring, a man grabbed a 13-year-old girl from a Temple Terrace parking lot, forced her into a car, drove off and raped her for hours, taking videos of the crime on his phone.
After authorities charged Bryan Oyanguren Rosado with the crime, state sentencing guidelines pegged his minimum prison sentence, if convicted, at 330 years.
Last week, he pleaded guilty and got 25 years.
The sentence, which came as part of a plea agreement, was so much lower than the guidelines, it spurred a judge’s inquiry before it was made final.
How did it happen? Prosecutors in the office of Hillsborough State Attorney Suzy Lopez cited a desire to spare the victim from the renewed trauma that a trial would bring.
Assistant State Attorney Joseph Kudia, of the office’s special victims unit, told a judge they would have sought a longer sentence had Oyanguren Rosado, 25, not accepted the 25-year offer.
“And quite candidly, in my unit’s review, the number probably should have been higher than this,” Kudia said.
The broad-daylight abduction was the kind of crime parents most fear.
The girl was attacked in a parking lot in the Doral Oaks apartment complex, near Busch Boulevard and North 56th Street in Temple Terrace.
It happened a couple of hours after a group of kids in the complex said a man in a gray or silver Nissan Altima approached them. He offered $20 if they’d buy him food at a nearby Burger King.
Most of the kids declined, but the girl said she would do it, according to police. She walked to the fast-food chain on 56th Street.
She returned shortly before 6 p.m., handed the man his food through his driver’s window and walked off.
The man, according to court records, drove south as though he was leaving the complex, then turned around. He pulled up near the girl, backed into a parking spot and got out.
He grabbed the girl from behind and put his hand over her mouth, according to an arrest report. He pushed the girl through the driver’s side door and shoved her into the passenger seat.
About three hours later, the girl returned. The story she told police was harrowing.
She rolled down the passenger-side window as he sped south on Riverhills Drive and yelled for help. He pulled over and told her to stop screaming, she told police. She tried to open the door and jump out, but he pulled back on her jacket. He locked all the doors and windows.
People heard the girl screaming as the car sped out of the complex. A call to 911 summoned police, who began a kidnapping investigation.
She later described her abductor as slender, with a blond or sandy-colored ponytail and a reddish-blond beard. He told her his name was “Brian” or “Ryan.”
As she begged him to take her home, he drove to a neighborhood under construction off Temple Terrace Highway. He parked and removed his pants. He raped her in three ways, according to an arrest report. He told her he would drive her back to Doral Oaks if she promised not to tell anyone what happened.
When he drove by the complex, though, it was swarming with police. He instead drove to a nearby office parking lot, where he let the girl go.
Temple Terrace police issued a news release with details about the attack and a photograph of the suspect’s car. A tipster led detectives to Oyanguren Rosado, according to court records. His car and phone matched the description the victim gave. He was arrested March 4.
Police later found on his phone 20 videos depicting portions of the rape, the prosecutor said. They also found 60 other images and videos identified as child sexual abuse material.
In court last week, after the prosecutor recounted the facts, Hillsborough Circuit Judge Mark Kiser called the attorneys up to the bench.
In hushed tones captured on courtroom audio, Kiser spoke with the attorneys about the reasoning for the 25-year plea offer. He asked if the victim was OK with it.
Kudia said she was. He mentioned the trauma and “mental and emotional anguish” if she had to testify in a trial.
“That’s why it’s so low?” Kiser asked.
“I wouldn’t say it’s low,” Kudia said. “Comparatively, it could be higher.”
The judge asked if there were other factors that weighed against a heavier sentence. Assistant Public Defender Gabrielle Biggs mentioned the defendant’s youth, the fact that he has no serious criminal history and his apparent remorse. He agreed to plead guilty, she said, without asking that the victim testify in a pretrial deposition.
Before he pleaded guilty, Oyanguren Rosado asked the judge if he could send a letter “for the victim’s family’s benefit.”
“Just to show my remorse,” he said. “To just allow them to know that I feel like that’s something they deserve at least.”
He was told to submit it to his attorney, who would relay the message.
Kudia added that the 25-year offer was the best deal Oyanguren Rosado would get. If convicted at trial, he could have gotten up to life in prison.
Instead, he may go free in a little over two decades once he completes at least 85% of his prison term, as state law requires. Thereafter, he will serve a 15-year probation sentence. He will be designated for life as a sexual predator, a condition requiring him to register with state law enforcement and severely restricting where he can live, jobs he can hold, places he can go and activities in which he can participate.
