Sanchez Probe Focuses on Rifle

As investigators pressed Thursday for links between the suspected Simi Valley rapist and the disappearance of Moorpark resident Megan Barroso, a missing part of an AK-47 assault rifle emerged as a new and potentially crucial piece of evidence in the case.

Ventura County Sheriff Bob Brooks said Thursday that authorities are working to match an assault rifle seized from the home of Vincent Henry Sanchez with part of an assault weapon found near the bullet-riddled car of 20-year-old Barroso, who disappeared July 5. The car was found abandoned near a Moorpark Freeway overpass.

The assault weapon seized from Sanchez’s home was missing a component, Brooks said. But it could be another week before police know anything conclusive on whether there is a match between the gun seized and the part recovered.

Test results for fingerprints, skin cells and ballistics are being conducted.

“Just because things look promising doesn’t mean you can afford to have any confidence in them until the lab tests are completed,� Brooks said. “You could jump to conclusions about what you see and be absolutely wrong. We don’t want to go too far out on that limb. We’re far more interested in being right than being fast.�

Sanchez, 30, was arrested Sunday and charged with 57 criminal counts in connection with the alleged assaults of 11 Simi Valley women since 1996. Bail has been set at $1 million. A hearing to eliminate the possibility of bail was postponed until today.

Meanwhile, authorities continued to piece together a profile of Sanchez from interviews with roommates, neighbors and others close to him. They described Sanchez as a mostly unemployed man with a history of aggressive and violent behavior.

State prison records show Sanchez served less than two years in prison for abusing the baby of a former girlfriend while they were living together in Lancaster in 1992.

According to court records filed in January, Sanchez’s estranged girlfriend, Luz LaFarga, obtained a restraining order against him, saying Sanchez had broken into her Ojai home and threatened to kill her and later himself.

“He has been physically abusive in the past,� she wrote, “and on several occasions has threatened the well-being of myself and my children, saying things like ‘Don’t you want to see your kids grow up?’ �

LaFarga told a judge in a sworn declaration dated Jan. 8 that Sanchez became “abusive and aggressive� toward her and her family after she broke off their relationship in October 2000.

Sanchez Peeping in Window, LaFarga Says

She said she caught him peeping through her living room window one night in late December and called police.

“As the police unit was exiting the driveway,� she wrote in the declaration, “Vincent emerged from the bed of a neighbor’s truck with what appeared to be a large sword.�

LaFarga said Sanchez fled as patrol cars searched for him and was not apprehended.

About a week later, Sanchez called and said he was going to kill her and himself, LaFarga wrote. An emergency protective order was filed by the Sheriff’s Department.

LaFarga wrote that on another occasion Sanchez broke into her home, lay on the porch and refused to leave until she called police.

She also stated she knew Sanchez had been arrested previously, but that he refused to tell her the reason.

LaFarga’s request for a restraining order was granted by a court commissioner in February and remains in effect, records show.

For five years, Simi Valley police tracked a serial rapist but were unable to make an arrest. But they got a break last week after a burglary at the Woodrow Avenue home of one of Sanchez’s neighbors.

The neighbor later told one of Sanchez’s roommates about the break-in. After describing what was taken, the roommate found some of the missing items in the house, authorities said. The roommate then called police.

Disturbing Items Found in Bag

While being questioned as a burglary suspect, Sanchez called home and asked one of his housemates to dispose of a bag, authorities said. It was only then that Sanchez became a suspect in the sexual assaults.

Roommate Josh Reno said he called police after he and his housemates found disturbing materials in the bag, including photographs and videos depicting naked women, some bound and gagged.

One video shows a male figure in a mask, gloves and black clothing with a naked woman whose leg appears to be bleeding, Reno said. Other items, he said, included news clippings of the Simi Valley assaults, women’s jewelry and garments, including panties.

But it was the assault weapon found in the Sanchez home that made police suspicious about Sanchez’s possible involvement in Barroso’s disappearance. At that point, the Sheriff’s Department became involved in the investigation.

Times staff writers Tina Dirmann and Jenifer Ragland contributed to this story.