Ventura Woman Sentence Reduced

Friday September 15, 2023

     Updated--A Ventura County judge has significantly reduced the sentence for a woman in connection with a series of violent incidents over a 15 month period.

     36-year-old Raquel Villarreal of Ventura had earlier pleaded guilty in connection with the attacks and was sentenced last May to 3 years 4 months in prison.

     But that sentence was reduced by two years Thursday to 1 year 4 months and the judge then ruled the sentence had been deemed served and she was ordered discharged from custody.

     Prosecutors had said that on November 29, 2021, Villarreal violated a restraining order and confronted her ex-husband at their daughter's school in Oxnard, striking him several times with a cane.

     Her husband reported the incident and when two Oxnard police officers contacted her later that day to arrest her for domestic violence and for violating the restraining order, she resisted and struggled with the officers, kicking them several times in the lower body before they were able to restrain her.

     The next day, while being booked into the Ventura County Jail, she was uncuffed for fingerprint processing when she struck the deputy in the face several times.

     Then, in February of this year, while still in custody, prosecutors say that Villarreal unleashed an unprovoked attack on another female inmate, including punching and stomping her, and slamming the inmate's head against the floor.