Man tells homeless woman she can warm up in car, then rapes her, CA officials say
A man accused in the rapes and assaults of multiple “vulnerable women” and a teenage girl was sentenced to prison, California prosecutors say.
Charles Edward Gaines III, 28, received a 19-year prison sentence on charges of “forcible sex crimes committed against three women and the attempted rape of a fourth victim,” the Ventura County District Attorney’s Office said in a May 7 news release.
“Gaines preyed on vulnerable women, including a teenager and a person experiencing homelessness, using manipulation, violence, and threats to commit his crimes,” Senior Deputy District Attorney Brent Nibecker said in the release.
Gaines is accused of attacking multiple women in Los Angeles and Ventura counties between February 2019 and May 2020, prosecutors said.
First attack
In the first case, Gaines is accused of telling a woman he met on a dating app under a fake name that they would go to the movies on Feb. 27, 2019, prosecutors said.
Instead, Gaines took the woman’s phone and demanded sex acts, prosecutors said.
She refused, and Gaines forced her to perform sex acts, then forced her into the backseat of the car “where he sodomized her,” according to prosecutors.
Afterward, “he drove to a fast-food restaurant, returned her phone, and dropped her off,” prosecutors said.
The woman called 911, and DNA was collected during a sexual assault exam, prosecutors said.
In the weeks following the attack, Gaines continued to contact the woman, prosecutors said.
Gaines messaged the woman, blaming her for the attack and expressing desire to engage in more sex acts, according to prosecutors.
When she refused, prosecutors said, “Gaines sent threatening messages.”
Second attack
Months later, Gaines came across a homeless woman in Encino and offered to let her warm up inside his car on Dec. 10, 2019, prosecutors said.
She agreed and sat in the backseat of the car, according to prosecutors.
Then, Gaines followed and grabbed her, prosecutors said.
The woman struggled to free herself while Gaines threatened her, then raped her, prosecutors said.
After taking Gaines’ cellphone, the woman ran from the car toward a closed grocery store, and a worker let her inside, prosecutors said.
Gaines followed the woman, wrestled away his phone and fled, according to prosecutors.
The woman underwent a sexual assault examination, and “DNA from the attack was collected,” prosecutors said.
Third attack
Again using a fake name on a dating app, Gaines met a 16-year-old who agreed to meet him in Simi Valley on March 27, 2020, prosecutors said.
After picking up the teenage girl from her home, Gaines “drove a short distance away,” and the two got into the car’s backseat, prosecutors said.
While their encounter started out as consensual, it “quickly turned into Gaines forcing himself on the victim,” prosecutors said.
Gaines raped the teen “as she yelled ‘stop,’” prosecutors said.
The girl struggled and yelled until she managed to grab the door handle and threw herself from the car, according to prosecutors.
Gaines returned to the driver’s seat and drove away, prosecutors said.
Not long after the attack, Gaines threatened to kill the victim over text message, prosecutors said.
The teen underwent a sexual assault examination, and “DNA was collected,” according to prosecutors.
Fourth attack
Gaines tried to force another woman in Canoga Park to engage in sex acts on May 23, 2020, prosecutors said.
The two were previously “in a consensual sexual relationship,” prosecutors said.
The woman refused to have sex with Gaines, and he started sending her threatening messages, prosecutors said.
If the woman did not have sex with him, Gaines threatened “to post printed sexual pictures” of the woman for family and neighbors to see, prosecutors said.
He demanded the woman come out of her home and engage in sex acts, or “he would ruin her life,” prosecutors said.
CODIS hit
The Combined DNA Index System — “a computer software program that operates local, state, and national databases of DNA profiles from convicted offenders, unsolved crime scene evidence, and missing persons” — found three DNA matches for three sexual assaults in May 2020 and February 2021, prosecutors said.
The matches were later confirmed to be from the same suspect, according to prosecutors.
Gaines was arrested in Colorado on an unrelated charge in August 2022, and investigators collected his DNA, which was uploaded to CODIS, prosecutors said.
Testing linked Gaines to the three sexual assaults, prosecutors said.
Gaines was again arrested in October 2022 on an arrest warrant stemming from the sexual assaults and extradited to stand trial, prosecutors said.
A jury convicted Gaines of “forcible sodomy and attempted rape of two victims,” but deadlocked on other charges on Feb. 25, 2025, prosecutors said.
Weeks later, Gaines pleaded guilty to “forcibly raping the two additional victims and admitted that one of the victims was a minor at the time of the attack,” according to prosecutors.
“(Gaines’) 19-year prison sentence reflects the gravity of his actions and the lasting trauma he inflicted on his victims,” Nibecker said. “I commend the courage of the survivors who came forward and the Simi Valley detectives and crime lab scientists who brought him to justice.”
This story was originally published May 8, 2025 at 1:24 PM with the headline "Man tells homeless woman she can warm up in car, then rapes her, CA officials say."
