{"id":416081,"date":"2026-07-29T03:07:16","date_gmt":"2026-07-29T03:07:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/416081\/"},"modified":"2026-07-29T03:07:16","modified_gmt":"2026-07-29T03:07:16","slug":"salinas-barber-convicted-of-sexual-assault-during-haircut","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/416081\/","title":{"rendered":"Salinas barber convicted of sexual assault during haircut"},"content":{"rendered":"

A perverted hairstylist was found guilty of sexually assaulting one of his male clients<\/a> as the victim sat in a barber chair during a haircut.<\/p>\n

Rafael Martinez Vargas, 45, of Salinas, was convicted by a jury on Monday of sexual battery and forcible oral copulation, the Monterey County District Attorney\u2019s office said.<\/p>\n

The jury also found that the heinous crime \u201cinvolved planning, sophistication, or professionalism.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"MugshotRafael Martinez Vargas, 45, of Salinas, was convicted by a jury on Monday of sexual battery and forcible oral copulation. Monterey County Jail<\/p>\n

The unidentified male victim<\/a>, aka John Doe 1, said he had been a regular client of Vargas\u2019 at Haircuts in Shape in Salinas. <\/p>\n

During a haircut on March 3, 2024, the victim said Vargas began \u201ctouching his genitals without his consent\u201d and then pulled down the victim\u2019s pants before assaulting him.<\/p>\n

He said when he tried to push Vargas off, he initially couldn\u2019t get him to stop the assault, according the DA. The victim said he was eventually able to make it end.<\/p>\n

\u201cDuring his testimony, John Doe 1 addressed what may appear to be a counterintuitive response to the assault, specifically, why he did not strike Vargas or use physical force to stop the attack,\u201d Pacioni said.<\/p>\n

\u201cDoe 1 explained that he froze during the incident, a common response to trauma and fear.\u201d<\/p>\n

Two other people testified during the trial they were also allegedly victims of a sexual assault by Vargas.<\/p>\n

\"HaircutsVargas is due back in court in August, when he will be sentenced for the attack.\u00a0 Google Maps<\/p>\n

\u201cJohn Doe 2 testified that in 2017, while receiving a haircut at Vargas\u2019 barbershop, Vargas reached into Doe 2\u2019s pants without his consent to touch his groin,\u201d the DA said.<\/p>\n

The second victim similarly described freezing during the assault and being unable to fight Vargas off.<\/p>\n

A third person, John Doe 3, also recounted being assaulted by Vargas at the barber shop in November 2019.\u00a0<\/p>\n

John Doe 3 testified that Vargas groped his \u201cgenitals over the clothes numerous times\u201d without his consent.<\/p>\n

Again, Vargas\u2019 third victim explained\u00a0that he didn\u2019t physically resist because he \u201cfroze in response to the shock and trauma of the assault,\u201d according to the DA.<\/p>\n

Vargas is due back in court in August, when he will be sentenced for the attack<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The crime carries a maximum sentence of 8.5 years in state prison. He also must register as a sex offender.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A perverted hairstylist was found guilty of sexually assaulting one of his male clients as the victim sat…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":416082,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[7,9,8,20493,4182,94899,166448,3586],"class_list":["post-416081","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-california","tag-california","tag-california-headlines","tag-california-news","tag-hair","tag-metro","tag-sexual-assaults","tag-stylists","tag-us-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/416081","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=416081"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/416081\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/416082"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=416081"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=416081"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=416081"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}