St. Paul men who pleaded guilty to rape face hearings

Three men went to court Friday morning expecting to be sentenced for raping a woman they met at a party on St. Paul's East Side in April. Instead they found themselves facing more court hearings.

Jose Perez Rodriguez, 18, Jose Portillo, 28, and Yancarlos Avile, 26, all of St. Paul, each pleaded guilty in August to one count of first-degree criminal sexual conduct. The plea agreement called for a sentence of a year in the workhouse and then deportation. All are illegal immigrants.

But Ramsey County District Judge Salvador Rosas said he could not in good conscience give the men a yearlong sentence when the presumptive sentence for the crime is 12 years.

Rosas allowed the men to withdraw their guilty pleas and told the men's defense attorneys that dates will be set for pretrial hearings and a jury trial.

According to the criminal complaints against the men, the 21-year-old victim met them at a friend's apartment in the 300 block of Hoyt Avenue. Portillo offered her a ride home to Minneapolis but said he needed to stop at his nearby apartment to get his keys.

All three defendants went into a second-floor apartment. The woman was pulled into the bathroom and the men took turns raping her, the complaint said.

PAT PHEIFER