A judge set a trial date of May 14, 2019 for Daniel Dorado, who is charged with sexually assaulting eight women, some of whom were attacked in his now closed La Jolla restaurant. Dorado, 60, appeared Nov. 7 before San Diego Superior Court Judge Esteban Hernandez and also replaced a public defender with a retained attorney from Orange County.
Dorado posted $900,000 bond in September and Deputy District Attorney Jessica Coto asked the judge to order that Dorado not drink alcohol as a condition of bond. Hernandez granted that request.
Most of the women who testified in the June preliminary hearing said they thought they were drugged with something Dorado put in their wine, champagne, or other alcoholic drinks.
The women, who vary in age from 22 to 57 at the time, testified they felt completely intoxicated and blacked out. Most of them said they threw up and felt very embarrassed.
Most of them did not report the incidents immediately, and authorities could not find any type of drug or chemical that Dorado could use to put in drinks.
Dorado has pleaded not guilty to all 27 counts of forcible rape, rape and oral copulation of an intoxicated or unconscious person, digital penetration, sexual battery, and assault with intent to commit rape.
Some of the alleged incidents occurred in 2009, 2014, 2015, 2016, and January of this year, according to testimony. Several said they were at the restaurant for job interviews and were assaulted in the restaurant after everyone had left. He was arrested March 28. The restaurant, Voce Del Mare, is located at 5721 La Jolla Blvd. in the Bird Rock area. It closed while he was in jail.
Dorado denies all the charges. He has waived his right to have a speedy trial.