The San Mateo Police Officers’ Association has launched a fundraising effort to support the woman who was brutally beaten and raped in the city last week. The woman in her 60s is “the sole provider for her two young boys and 90-year-old frail mother” and is being treated for serious injuries at a local trauma center, police said.
The GoFundMe fundraiser had raised nearly $33,000 in just five hours after its launch.
On Tuesday, police announced the arrest of Alejandro Vanegas Guevara, a 27-year-old local transient, in connection with the crime, which occurred Wednesday, Aug. 5, at 10:40 p.m. in the area of 9th Avenue and S. El Camino Real.
Police were called to the area on a report of sexual assault and “learned she had been seriously beaten and then raped at a bus stop after leaving work,” according to the GoFundeMe.
She was knocked unconscious during the attack, police said. Witnesses provided officers with a detailed description of the suspect, and detectives later found video from a taqueria near downtown with clear video of Guevara, police said.
“This is a particularly brutal and savage crime, and not one we often see or will tolerate in our city,” San Mateo Police Chief Ed Barberini said.
Barberini said the victim has a “long road ahead, and can truly use your support.”
The chief credited the residents of San Mateo whose “numerous tips and information proved extremely beneficial in helping solve this case.”
SMPD Press Conference on Rape Arrest
Posted by San Mateo Police Department on Tuesday, August 11, 2020
