Police: Oakdale man allegedly gave booze to minors, raped with sleeping teen | Crime

OAKDALE, CA - What started as a house party for teenage girls ended in rape.

Investigators said a father was hosting a party for his teenage daughter's friends and served them alcohol, then raped a 16-year-old girl while she slept.

Police arrested Timothy Lyman, 44, on Monday and booked him into Stanislaus County Jail, where he remained early Tuesday evening.

"He seemed like a good person; you would not expect something like that from someone like him," Neighbor Paula Castro said.

Castro, who lives next door to Lyman, couldn't believe it when they heard police arrested Lyman for raping his daughter's friend.

"It blows me away someone would do something like that, I mean, you take advantage of a little girl like that," said Brian James, who has relatives in the neighborhood where the attack allegedly took place.

Police said the victim's mother contacted them a few days after the Dec. 27 attack.

"They're pretty cool. [Lyman] gets along with his daughter nice, good, like a father would," Castro said.

However, police said Lyman went too far when he hosted a party for the teenagers at his home and served them alcohol.

"You're trying to be a cool parent or whatever; you want your kids to like you more for doing stuff like that? That's not how you do it," James said.

"He's supposed to be in charge of the whole group, and he starts drinking too," Oakdale Police Chief Lester Jenkins said.

According to Jenkins, the victim told investigators she had been drinking at the party, then fell asleep in one of the bedrooms. He said the teen woke up in the middle of the night to Lyman raping her. When police interviewed Lyman on Monday, he admitted he was drunk that night.

"He didn't deny the rape," Jenkins said.

Asked if this was a planned attack on someone the suspect had known for some time, Jenkins responded, "It's a fair question, but we don't have any evidence to support that."

Jenkins said Lyman insisted he did not expect the rape to happen and that alcohol was a factor. That's why police said this is a good example of why adults should not provide alcohol to minors even in their own homes.

"That kind of bothers me 'cause I have grandkids that are more or less that age, and I wouldn't want to see them ... once you drink, there's trouble," Castro said.

Police said Lyman could face additional charges, including those for providing alcohol to minors.