SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. - Police arrested the man who they say held his victim at gunpoint and sexually assaulted her before running off with her money. Police were able to catch the suspect because of the victim's quick actions.
It happened in the early hours Thursday morning at the San Luis Inn and Suites. A woman staying in a second-floor room was raped and robbed at gunpoint by Gregory Erwin. Earlier Erwin had agreed to meet the woman at her room sometime after midnight.
San Luis Obispo Lieutenant John Bledsoe says, "I'm not fully aware of the nature of their relationship but I think he went there to have some sort of a physical relationship with the victim."
Bledsoe says the woman was able to give police significant information about her attacker, including the gun he pointed at her head. After the attack, she followed him to the hotel parking lot and was able to get the license plate number of the truck he drove away in.
Police linked the number to Erwin and his house on the 200 block of West Park Avenue in Santa Maria. SLO Police investigators surveyed the street until Erwin came out of his house early in the morning. He was arrested as he was trying to get in his truck.
Police were able to get a search warrant for his house, where they found a gun.
Bledsoe said the gun, "did match the description of the one the victim provided to the officers last night."
Erwin was arrested on six counts, including armed robbery and rape. He was booked in the San Luis Obispo County Jail.
Neighbors on West Park Avenue say they didn't see the arrest go down this morning. And no one seems to have known Erwin.
SLO Police say Erwin has been arrested in the past, but they wouldn't go into detail as to what crimes he may have committed prior to this.
