LOS ANGELES, CA - APRIL 29: Handcuffs are seen on the hands of a twenty-year old "Street Villains" gang member who was arrested by Los Angeles Police Department officers from the 77th Street division on April 29, 2012 in Los Angeles, California. The 77th Street division patrol the same neighborhood that truck driver Reginald Denny was nearly beaten to death by a group of black assailants at the intersection of Florence and Normandie Avenues. It?s been 20 years since the verdict was handed down in the Rodney King case that sparked infamous Los Angeles riots. (Photo by Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images) (2012 Getty Images)
LOS ANGELES (AP) – A Los Angeles man was charged Thursday with raping a woman in a city park within 12 hours of being released early from jail.
Edgar Alexander Lobos, 27, left a Los Angeles County jail just after midnight Sunday, according to police and court records. Around noon Monday, police say Lobos was in Lincoln Park, pointed a gun at a woman's head, forced her into a restroom and sexually assaulted her.
Police said the 31-year-old woman helped them identify and arrest Lobos the next day by describing his distinctive facial tattoos. At the time of his arrest, police said Lobos had a small-caliber gun used in the attack. It wasn't clear how he obtained it.
Lobos, who police say is a suspected gang member, has prior convictions dating to 2007. He was sentenced to four years in prison in 2011 after pleading no contest to domestic abuse and to two years in 2014 after pleading no contest to being a felon in possession of a gun.
Last month he was sentenced to 90 days in jail for a drug-related parole violation but was released after 33 days, jail records show.
A spokeswoman for the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department, the agency that freed Lobos, was unable to immediately explain the early release. The county jail system has chronic overcrowding that often leads to inmates leaving before their sentences are completed.
Lobos faces one count each of rape and forcible sodomy among other charges for Monday's assault in the park on LA's Eastside, about 3 miles from downtown. At a court hearing Thursday, a judge ordered Lobos held on $3 million bond. His next court appearance is May 26.
Lobos faces life in prison if convicted of all charges. It was not immediately clear if he had a lawyer.
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