A judge ordered the owner of a La Jolla restaurant June 28 to stand trial on 27 counts of rape and other sex charges involving eight women who were apparently given drug-laced alcohol that left most of them unconscious or severely intoxicated.
Seven of the eight women testified against Daniel Dorado, 59, in a two-day preliminary hearing before San Diego Superior Court Judge Michael Groch. A detective testified about what the eighth victim told her about her alleged assault.
The 27 charges include forcible rape, rape and oral copulation of an intoxicated or unconscious person, forcible oral copulation, digital penetration, felony sexual battery, and assault with intent to commit rape.
If Dorado is convicted of all charges, he would face a maximum sentence of 32 years in prison. He has no prior record.
He has pleaded not guilty. His attorneys, Brian White and Lindsey Mercer, persuaded Groch to dismiss seven charges on insufficient evidence grounds which was opposed by Deputy District Attorneys Katherine Flaherty and Jessica Coto.
Dorado’s daughter and her husband attended the hearing, along with a family friend. Dorado was dressed in blue clothing and one hand was handcuffed to a chair both days. He is divorced.
Dorado has owned the Voce Del Mare restaurant at 5721 La Jolla Blvd. in the Bird Rock area for years. The restaurant closed after his March 28 arrest.
Groch ordered Dorado to next appear in court on July 12 to set a trial date. He remains in jail on $900,000 bail.
The women varied in age from 22 to 57 years at the time. The first incident occurred in 2009 and the others were alleged to have occurred in 2014, 2015, and 2017. The last incident is alleged to have occurred Jan. 21 to an Orange County woman who had driven down to meet Dorado in the restaurant.
Every single victim said they were given either a pink drink, wine, or champagne by Dorado that they did not see poured. Every victim said they become very intoxicated quickly, and several woke up to realizing Dorado was either having sex with them or they were not wearing clothing.
Most of the women did not report the incidents initially because they said they were embarrassed and often blamed themselves for what happened. Some only came forward after Dorado was arrested. One woman said she didn’t consider herself a victim until she read stories about Dorado.
Some women did report the incidents to either police or sheriff’s deputies, but a case against Dorado was not brought by the District Attorney’s office until after his arrest.
Most of the women got into contact with Dorado by answering an employment ad for a hostess at the restaurant, but little talk of business occurred. Two women met him on a dating match service called Elite Singles.
All of the women said they eventually threw up after drinking the beverages Dorado gave them. Several said Dorado told them the pinkness in the drink was from cranberries. Most said they had large gaps in their memory. A few of the assaults allegedly occurred in the restaurant where there was a couch in his office, but most of the other encounters occurred in either La Jolla hotels or his residence where he lived in Solana Beach at the time.
Some of the women later noticed various bruises and other injuries. Several said they woke up to Dorado biting their nipples, causing abrasions. Detective Travis Demas testified that a woman told him that Dorado “would bite her breasts.” Dorado drove the women to their cars, and many testified they drove home even though they were likely too drunk to drive. One woman testified she stopped her car in Pacific Beach and called for a Lyft ride home as she was too drunk to drive. She said she called Lyft the next day to find out where the driver picked her up because she could not recall where she left her car.
The youngest victim, who is now 25, testified she showed up at the restaurant at 9:30 p.m. on April 27, 2015, to be interviewed by Dorado for a hostess job. She said she had two glasses of wine and was seated on the couch in his office.
“I lost conscious(ness) really fast,” said the woman. “I remembered trying to wake up. He was on top of me. I was not strong enough to get him off me.”
Her phone rang and her mother was calling her, as she was concerned. The woman realized it was 4 a.m. and she and Dorado were not wearing clothing. Dorado answered the phone initially and she told her mother she was fine, but she said “I feared for my life at that point.”
“He let me leave but told me… not to say anything to anyone. It seemed like it was more of a threat,” said the woman.
Under cross-examination, the woman said she filed a lawsuit against Dorado, saying “I want justice.”
The woman drove home and told her mother what happened. She had a rape exam taken that morning in a hospital. In a stipulation, Coto said DNA found on the woman matched Dorado’s DNA profile.
A 37-year-old bartender said she answered Dorado’s ad for a wine porter in 2017 and met him at the restaurant for an interview. She was surprised the restaurant was closed at the time, but he poured some wine for her.
The bartender said she felt drunk after getting a third glass of wine. She said she was experienced with drinking, but this was the most intoxicated she had ever felt in her life. She declined to sit on his couch, but she said he began touching her. She pushed him off.
“I felt he was trying to bully me,” said the bartender.
She said Dorado became visibly angry and told her “you need to leave.”
Detective Kathryn Crumb testified an Orange County woman told her Dorado drove her to a hotel room in Mission Beach on Jan. 21. The woman told Crumb she recalled waking up to sexual assault and had difficulty remaining awake.