A Kern County jury has convicted Vincent Deleon on all charges related to an incident in which he raped a woman after kidnapping her from a gym parking lot in Northwest Bakersfield.
The charges include rape, oral copulation by force, sodomy, rape with a foreign object, carjacking, kidnapping, robbery, conspiracy, dissuading a witness, assault with a semi-automatic firearm, and being a felon with a firearm.
The case was tried by DA Cynthia Zimmer and Deputy DA Cyrus Shahbazian.
On December 15, 2023, the victim was leaving the In-Shape gym on Coffee Road. As she got into her car in the parking lot, Deleon, a complete stranger, wearing a mask, gloves, and armed with a firearm, opened the driver’s door, pointed his firearm at her head and demanded that she move to the front passenger seat. Deleon then kidnapped the victim and drove her car to two banks where he demanded the victim to withdraw money using her debit card from the drive-through ATM. After obtaining $500, Deleon drove the victim, while repeatedly threatening to kill her, to various locations in rural Kern County. Defendant Deleon backed her car into a remote orange orchard off Maricopa Highway where he forcibly raped, sodomized, and orally copulated her against her will. Afterward, he drove the victim to the Vallarta Supermarket on Panama Lane and dropped her off, after threating to kill her and her family if she reported the crime. Deleon then used the victim’s debit card to buy himself clothing. Within two hours, Bakersfield Police located the defendant driving the victim’s car. He led police on a high-speed chase before crashing the vehicle and fleeing on foot. He was apprehended in an alley in East Bakersfield.
DA Zimmer commented; “My heart breaks for the victim, who like many others in similar circumstances, must endure the lifelong pain inflicted upon her. I hope this verdict brings the victim some measure of closure as she continues on her path toward healing. As for Deleon, he will remain behind bars where he belongs, never again able to inflict such monstrous harm on anyone in the community.”
Deleon faces five consecutive life terms in state prison at his sentencing date on June 24, 2026