Suspect arrested in sexual assault of woman sleeping in her Encinitas apartment

A fugitive task force on Wednesday, Sept. 29, arrested a man suspected of sneaking into an Encinitas woman’s apartment in the middle of the night two weeks ago and sexually assaulting her, sheriff’s officials said.

(File photo)

Maynor Ricardo Funes, 32, appeared in Superior Court in Vista on Friday, Oct. 1, where he pleaded not guilty to felony sex-crime charges and residential burglary, according to the District Attorney’s Office. He remained held in jail in lieu of $1 million bail.

Funes is accused of attacking the victim shortly before midnight on Friday, Sept. 17, while she was sleeping in her residence on Carol View Drive, just west of Interstate 5 in the Cardiff area, sheriff’s Lt. Joel Stranger said.

The victim was ultimately able to chase the shirtless assailant out of her home.

Officials did not disclose what led detectives to identify Funes as the alleged perpetrator in the case. The victim had described her attacker as a Latino man standing about 5 feet 4 inches and weighing roughly 120 pounds. Jail records list Funes as being Hispanic, 5 feet 5 inches and 120 pounds.

Members of the San Diego Regional Fugitive Task Force, led by the U.S. Marshals Service, arrested Funes on Wednesday, Sept. 29, as he was leaving a residence on Hermes Avenue near East Jason Street in the Leucadia area, according to Stranger.

Sheriff’s officials said the investigation remains active and asked anyone in the coastal North County area who may have experienced a similar attack to come forward. Any such victim, or anyone with information about the Sept. 17 assault, was urged to call the sheriff’s sexual assault unit at (858) 285-6222, or after hours at the department’s non-emergency line at (858) 565-5200. Anonymous tipsters can also call San Diego County Crime Stoppers at (888) 580-8477.

— San Diego Union-Tribune staff writer Alex Riggins contributed to this report.