Southern California chef charged with drugging, raping military member at restaurant

SEAL BEACH, Calif. (KTLA) -- A former Seal Beach chef pleaded not guilty to drugging and raping a member of the military after she dined at the restaurant where he worked last year, the Orange County District Attorney's Office said last week in a news release.

The victim told investigators that 55-year-old Darryl Lee Matanane gave her an alcoholic beverage at Bistro Saint Germain in Seal Beach in Feb. 2018 and she later woke up at a stranger's apartment where she had been sexually assaulted, according to the Seal Beach Police Department. She said had no recollection of how she got to the unfamiliar location.

Matanane has been charged with six felony counts, including one count of rape by use of drugs, one count of rape of an unconscious person, one count of sodomy of an unconscious person, one count of sodomy by anesthesia or a controlled substance, one count of sexual penetration of an unconscious victim and one count of sexual penetration by intoxicating or controlled substance.

The former chef was arrested on Aug. 30 in Midland, Texas, after being released from custody a week after his arrest in Orange County last year.