RAPE SUSPECT IDENTIFIED BY LEG TATTOOS.

Byline: Karen Maeshiro Daily News Staff Writer

A woman assaulted in a brutal home invasion robbery in which two armed men raped four women and held four men hostage identified one suspect in court Monday by the tattoos on his legs.

The victim, a woman in her early 20s, broke down in tears after she testified that she recognized the tattoos on the legs of 28-year-old Richard Nieto of Palmdale.

As Nieto stood in front of the victim, court bailiffs raised his pants one leg at a time, revealing a tattoo on his left leg of a skull with the word, "Harbor Area Gangsters" above it, and on his right leg, what appeared to be a dragon wrapped around the number 13.

The woman and one of the male victims who testified Monday recalled statements by their assailants that revealed a flippant attitude toward the crimes being committed.

The woman testified she heard one of the robbers say, "This will be a routine jack."

The man, at whose apartment the incident occurred, said one of the robbers made reference to the music that was playing, saying, "the only reason we're not going to kill you is you are listening to cool music."

The music was reggae by Bob Marley, prosecutors said.

Nieto has pleaded not guilty to 20 counts filed against him in the Jan. 19 incident in which two armed robbers held the victims hostage for more than two hours.

Nieto faces a maximum of more than 200 years in prison if convicted of six counts of robbery, three counts of assault with a deadly weapon, and 11 counts of sexual assault, officials said.

A second suspect has been identified and is being sought, detectives said.

Nieto, who has his last name tattooed on the back of his neck, and tattoos visible on the back of his head beneath his very short hair, was being held in lieu of $960,000 bail. His preliminary hearing was scheduled to continue today in Antelope Municipal Court.

The woman identified Nieto in court as one of the two robbers, but Nieto's attorney, Deputy Public Defender Mitchell Bruckner, said the identification is suspect.

Outside court, Bruckner said the woman picked two other people as suspects from two separate photograph line-ups that did not contain a picture of Nieto. In a third line-up, she picked Nieto and another man.

"The facts will speak for themselves," Bruckner said. "The people clearly have a problem making an identification in the case. She can't distinguish between him and someone else."

According to deputies, the crime got under way when two men armed with pistols, and one wearing a ski mask, entered an apartment about 1:30 or 1:45 a.m. in the 2000 block of Westwood Court, apparently after following a man and two women returning from a Lancaster nightclub.

Three men and two women were already at the apartment when their three friends arrived.

The intruders entered the apartment through an unlocked door, robbed the victims of jewelry and money, tied up the men and systematically raped the four women, deputies said.

After the intruders left, about 4 a.m., the victims freed themselves from their bonds and called 911.

The woman testified Monday that a few minutes after she and the other two entered the apartment, the two assailants came in and ordered everybody to get down. "I was extremely scared, shaken and in a state of confusion as to what was going on," the woman testified.

After the two robbers took money from the victims, they separated the men from the women, shuttling the women into the kitchen and keeping the men in the living room, the woman testified.

Then, she said Nieto "tapped me and took me upstairs" to a bedroom where she was raped. She was taken downstairs after the assault, and later taken to the bedroom where she was assaulted again.

The male victim, who testified he was shot at and missed by the masked gunman, said he did not see the faces of the robbers but said he recognized Nieto from seeing him earlier at the nightclub at the Desert Inn.

He noticed Nieto because of his gang-style "baggy, out-of-place clothing," the man testified.

The male victim also said one of the robbers carried a Taser, or stun gun, and the female victim said Nieto had a stun gun and a gun. A stun gun was recovered at Nieto's residence, said Deputy District Attorney Kelly Cromer.

Nieto was arrested at a Sierra Highway bar Jan. 28 by sheriff's deputies who had focused on Nieto as a suspect. Nieto is unemployed and has no prior adult felony record, officials said.

A paroled sex offender was arrested 12 hours after the crime, based on victims' descriptions of their assailant, but deputies say they now doubt that he was involved.