Polete drives off. The victim finds her clothes and walks to a gas station. She calls her father. Her father calls the Bakersfield PD and reports the incident.
Polete drives to Hacienda Heights. He spends the weekend with his wife. He returns to Lemoore air station early Sunday night.
Tuesday, 2/8/77:
Polete calls the victim’s mother–collect. He uses the phone in his office.
The victim’s mother does not accept the call. Polete gives her a call-back number and ID’s himself as “Security Officer Johnson.” He says he has information on her daughter’s car.
Polete hangs up. The victim’s mother calls the victim. The victim calls the Bakersfield PD. She talks to DetectiveJ. D.Jackson. She says a “Security Officer Johnson” called her mother. The man implied her car was somewhere at Lemoore air station. He left a number: (209) 998-9827. –
Detective Jackson calls the number. Polete answers. Jackson asks him about the car. Polete says Johnson is handling it. Jackson says he’d like to talk to him. Polete says Johnson is out. Jackson tells him to secure the car. Polete says he will.
Jackson talks to his supervisor. They’ve got a lead on the missing car in the 2/4 rape. The supervisor calls Lemoore. He contacts the chief of security. The chief tells him that Airman R. L. Polete told him the following story:
Polete was hitching back to the station last Sunday night. A man in a Honda Civic picked him up. The man pulled a knife. He told Polete that he stole the car from a woman in Bakersfield. He told him to call her on Tuesday and make sure she got the car.
Polete balked. The man gave him a phone number for the woman’s mother. The man stole Polete’s ID papers. They showed his address in Hacienda Heights. The man said he’d better comply–or his wife would have problems.
Detective Jackson and Detective J. L. Wheldon drove to Lemoore. They questioned Airman Polete. He strongly resembled their victim’s description. Polete told them his hitchhiking story. Jackson and Wheldon poked holes in it. They read Polete his Miranda rights. Polete started sobbing. He said he stole the Honda. He described the events preceding the theft.
From the Bakersfield PD report:
Polete said he had to see his wife. He needed bus fare. He was stuck in Bakersfield. He figured he’d snatch a purse.
He saw this girl. He pulled his knife and jumped into her car. He stated his intention: to drop her off someplace safe and split with the car.
He drove off. Polete said the girl came on to him. She rubbed his leg up near his crotch. He said, “Don’t do that, I’m married– all I want is the car.”
The girl said, “If you’re going to take the car, you might as well take everything.” She groped him again. She said, “Let’s pull over somewhere–get in the backseat and do it.”
Polete said he’d do it–“if she promised to leave him alone.” The girl got in the backseat and took all her clothes off. They drove to a dark field.
The girl pulled him into the backseat. She started kissing him. She asked him to give her some head. Polete refused. The girl said she wouldn’t make hini do it.
They had intercourse. Polete got back in the front seat. The girl said, “You said you were going to leave me off somewhere. Let’s go.”
Polete dropped the girl off on the other side of the freeway. He found $5 on the floorboard and took it. He drove down to Hacienda Heights.
Jackson and Wheldon booked Polete on four felony counts: 261, 209, 211, and 288A. The victim viewed a mug shot spread and identified him. Jackson and Wheldon got a warrant and searched Polete’s locker. They found the clothes the victim said Polete was wearing.
The prelim was held on 3/1/77. Polete was held to answer for the 261 and 209 charges.
He went to trial on 7/5/77. He pleaded guilty. His lawyer said he should. His lawyer thought he could get him tagged as an MDSO–a Mentally Disordered Sex Offender.
His lawyer thought he could get him some state-hospital time. His lawyer miscalculated.