On Tuesday, June 15th, 2021, the Turlock Police Department received information from a transient female reporting that she had been raped the day prior on Monday, June 14th, 2021. She told officers that a Hispanic male adult about six feet tall weighing 250 pounds in a dark SUV, later identified as Joseph Frank Pineda Pimentel, 37, of Denair, offered her a ride and told her that he would help her out. She then told officers that she originally declined, but eventually accepted as he was persistent.

The victim then told officers that instead of Pineda Pimentel taking her to where she needed to be, he took her behind a closed business and raped her by force.

The victim cooperated with the investigation and consented to a medical sexual assault investigation, where biological evidence was located.

On Monday, August 30th, 2021, Turlock Police detectives received notification of a DNA match from the rape linking Pineda Pimentel to it. Detectives were also notified that the DNA matched two other unsolved sexual assaults in two other counties. The circumstances in all three incidents were very similar. Detectives also learned that Pineda Pimentel’s DNA record was from the military in 2009, when he had also been charged with rape. Those charges were eventually dropped.

Detectives, Special Investigations Unit officers, and the Crime and Community Information Analyst steadily worked on the investigation the next few days, ultimately leading to obtaining an arrest warrant for Pineda Pimentel.

On Thursday, September 2nd, 2021, at 5:00 pm, detectives were able to identify Pineda Pimentel’s general location in south Modesto with the assistance of cellphone pings provided by AT&T. Detectives converged on the area and located Pimentel near the intersection of Hosmer Ave and S 9th St, Modesto, where they made a stop. At the time of the stop, Pineda Pimentel had just picked up another transient female whom he had offered a ride to and something to eat. She stated that she had just met him the day prior and did not know him beyond his first name.

Pineda Pimentel was arrested and booked into the Stanislaus County Public Safety Center on charges of rape.