CEDAR CITY — A California man has been sentenced to prison for the attempted rape of a teenage girl in a motor home parked in a Cedar City shopping center parking lot.
Luis Lopez, 33, was sentenced on May 19 to three years to life in prison by 5th District Judge Meb Anderson for attempted rape, a first-degree felony, after admitting to having intercourse with a 14-year-old girl.
He pleaded guilty on Oct. 21 to attempted rape in a plea deal that reduced the charge from rape.
Although he admitted to having sexual intercourse with a 14-year-old girl without her consent through coercion or force, Lopez's plea statement said it was "called an attempt" for the purposes of the plea agreement.
The plea deal reduced his minimum sentence from five years to three years in prison.
According to charging documents, the girl had run away from a Parowan group home and met Lopez at a Walmart, where she asked to use his phone and told him she was 14.
Lopez then invited the girl to stay with him in his motor home and provided her alcohol, THC wax and a vape, charges said. The girl reported Lopez had sexual intercourse with her despite her saying "no," and trying to push him away.
