Ex-Boyfriend Convicted of Kidnap-Rape

The prosecutor said that “they fell into a sort of ‘Fatal Attraction’ between each other.” The defense said it was a “lovers’ quarrel that got out of hand.”

The jury said it was rape.

Tamra Wimler, who once had given up hope that she could be protected by the San Diego judicial system, called it vindication. And more.

“I don’t think that being vindicated is enough for what I had to go through,” she said. “It could have been prevented.”

On Tuesday, Wimler’s former boyfriend Jerry Gallo was convicted in San Diego Superior Court of sexually assaulting her.

Maximum 72 Years

He was found guilty of two counts of forcible rape, two counts of assault with a deadly weapon, one count of kidnaping and five other charges. He faces a maximum of 72 years in prison.

Gallo and Wimler had met and fallen in love, shared an apartment in Chula Vista and once considered a life together. But the light flickered out of their romance and, according to testimony during the three-week trial, in its place erupted a bitter duel layered with hate.

Wimler twice obtained court orders keeping Gallo away from her home, but she testified that he continued to call and follow her, desperately trying to rekindle her affection. But she spurned his attempts and became afraid as he harassed her, prowled around her home and chased her in his car.

Gallo testified that after their affair ended, as much as $6,000 was stolen from his bank account and that Wimler knew the pass code to his automatic teller card. He said his home was burglarized, his car bugged and that illegal drugs were planted on him. He said he had every reason to believe his former girlfriend was the cause of his problems.

Abducted at Gunpoint

While both sides claimed harassment from the other, the jury made clear its ruling: that on the night of July 6, Gallo abducted Wimler at gunpoint from her Bay Park home, drove her to a vacant warehouse in Chula Vista, raped and beat her, then dropped her off at a hospital for treatment.

Gallo told the jury that Wimler voluntarily left her home with him that night. He said that while they did park outside the warehouse, he never went inside the building and never sexually assaulted her.

Before the trial, Wimler, frustrated that the court injunctions protecting her from Gallo were not enforced, was angered when Gallo’s $500,000 bail was slashed to $75,000. She feared he would be released and torment her further. And she learned that jail workers were under no obligation to notify her if he was set free.

She wrote the mayor and the chief of police. Her protests resulted in a higher bail for Gallo and sparked discussions by jail and state officials about changing the victim notification process for when an inmate is released.

Finds System Lacking

“I just hope I’ve made some people aware of how the system really operates and what it’s lacking,” she said.

She said that what she suffered occurs too often to other women, particularly the frustrations of trying to motivate law enforcement and judicial officials to protect women from would-be assailants.

“I just wanted to keep him away from me,” she said. “Yet still I was kidnaped and raped and almost killed.”

Daniel Lamborn, the deputy district attorney who prosecuted the case, told the jury that Wimler’s problems began simply enough.

‘In Love for Awhile’

“They were in love for awhile,” he said. “And after awhile, Tamra Wimler saw something in Jerry Gallo that she didn’t like. He was like sticky stuff on her fingers that wouldn’t come off. And they fell into a sort of ‘Fatal Attraction’ situation between each other.”

Last year’s popular movie of that title is the story of a married man pursued relentlessly by a woman with whom he had an affair.

Chief among Gallo’s problems was a touch of paranoia, Lamborn said. “Here is a man who was willing to do anything to get her back,” he said.

Only after Gallo raped Wimler did his old feelings of love return, Lamborn said. “That’s when he began having feelings for her again. By his own words, they had a war going on. He had meant to kill her, but he had feelings for her after he hurt her.”

Defense attorney Nicholas DePento, like Lamborn, conceded that Wimler and Gallo ended their affair bitterly and that both lovers acted irresponsibly.

“I think my client is guilty of being childish,” he said. “I think my client is guilty of being insecure. I think my client is guilty of losing his temper.

“I think my client is guilty of making threats. I think my client is guilty of using bad judgment. I think my client is guilty of using bad language. And I think my client is guilty about wanting to hurt another person.

“But he is not guilty of kidnaping, oral copulation, sexual assault, and everything else that has been thrown into the kitchen sink.”

He accused Wimler of fabricating the rape attack to hurt Gallo. “The wolf is actually dressed up in sheep’s clothing and has come into this courtroom,” DePento said.

Wimler, a downtown bank employee, testified that her 18-month relationship with Gallo ended after a Valentine’s Day weekend in Las Vegas, when she realized the romance could not continue. But Gallo was obstinate.

“He would call me and harass me at work,” she said. “He’d accuse me of things and make threats to me. He said he had things taken care of to ruin my life if anything ever happened to him.”

“All I had wanted,” she said, “was for him to leave me alone.”

Gallo insisted he did not rape Wimler. He told the jury that they drove to the warehouse in Chula Vista and, while sitting in the car, discussed their feelings toward one another.

“I asked her, ‘Whatever happened to us?’ ” he said. “We once had something special. And now here we were fighting like cats and dogs, trying to put each other in jail, trying to kill each other. ‘Whatever happened to us?’

“I just started crying. I had had enough. I couldn’t stop it. It just came gushing out.”