Charges have been filed against a father and daughter accused of kidnapping and sexually assaulting a Las Vegas woman before dumping her in the Mojave Desert, prosecutors said Tuesday.
Stanley Alfred Lawton, 55, of Riverside, and Shaniya Poche-Lawton, 22, of Palmdale have been charged with one count each of kidnapping to commit robbery, attempted murder, kidnapping, and forcible rape, and three counts of first-degree ATM robbery, according to the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office.
The complaint also alleges a firearm was used, and that Stanley Lawton was previously convicted of attempted murder and robbery in 1984 and 1988, the DA’s office said.
The defendants are suspected of kidnapping the 46-year-old victim at gunpoint in Las Vegas in late October and driving the woman — whom they knew — across state lines, a news release from the DA’s office stated.
She was taken to the Antelope Valley where she was allegedly sexually assaulted and forced to withdraw money from multiple ATMs, according to the release.
The woman was then dumped in the desert, prosecutors said. She was found disoriented near Edwards Air Force Base about a week after the abduction, according to the L.A. County Sheriff’s Department.
“At some point, she was sexually assaulted and then left for dead,” sheriff’s Capt. Hernandez said in November after the arrests were made. “I don’t know why they released her.”
Investigators believed she had been held captive for about a week. The victim was treated at a hospital for unspecified injuries.
“It’s a vicious case,” Hernandez said.
The two were scheduled to be arraigned Tuesday, but it was continued until next month, the Associated Press reported.
Lawton faces a possible maximum sentence of 260 years to life in prison if convicted as charged. He is being held on $4.5 million.
Poche-Lawton could face 71 years to life in prison, according to prosecutors. Her bail has been set at $3.5 million.
Authorities have not released a booking photo for either defendant.
