Tag Archives: SAN BERNARDINO COUNTY

WESTMINSTER, CA. – An off-duty Westminster police officer and an off-duty state corrections officer were arrested Saturday night in connection with a carjacking, kidnapping and rape of a 25-year-old restaurant employee in Ontario, police said.

Anthony Nicholas Orban, 30, a five-year officer assigned to investigations with the Westminster Police Department, has been relieved from duty pending an investigation, a department spokesman said Monday morning.

The other suspect is Jeff Thomas Jelinek, 30, an officer with the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, said Sgt. David McBride of the Ontario Police Department.

A police service weapon found in the restaurant worker’s car led authorities to Orban, McBride said.

The incident began Saturday afternoon after the woman, who lives in San Bernardino County, left work at Ontario Mills Mall.

Orban approached her as she was getting into her car in the mall parking lot and forced himself into the passenger seat, police said.

Jelinek “stood by and watched” as Orban pointed the gun at the victim and ordered her to drive away, police said.

They stopped in Fontana, near Base Line Road and the 15 Freeway, in a commercial complex.

Orban then “forced the victim to disrobe and then brutally raped her at gunpoint,” Ontario police said in a statement.

Orban then fled, leaving his service weapon behind and still in the victim’s vehicle, police said.

After Orban left, the woman walked to a nearby business where she called Fontana police to report the incident, just after 7 p.m.

It was later determined that Orban telephoned Jelinek, who picked up Orban in Fontana and drove him back to the Ontario Mills parking lot, police said.

Fontana officers responded and determined that the investigation should be handled by Ontario police since the incident started there.

When Orban returned to the mall, he called his wife to tell her he was missing his gun. She then called Ontario police.

Ontario police met with Orban and Jelinek to take a report on the missing gun.

The Ontario officers, however, felt their statements were inconsistent and “somewhat suspicious,” police said.

While the Ontario officers were interviewing Orban and Jelinek, they received word about the sexual assault involving a firearm in Fontana. The gun was determined to belong to Orban, police said,

“A short time later, Orban and Jelinek were positively identified as the suspects’ responsible for the carjacking, kidnap and rape,” Ontario police said in a statement.

“There has been no evidence indicating that either suspect represented themselves as police officers during the commission of the crimes.”